gpxjgga  x  BEg  <■'»  '(■•>  ^^^^^^g^^^^^^^^^^^^^m^^^^g 


ORATIONS 


t. 


«a 


BRITISH   ORATORS 

INCLUDING  BIOGRAPHICAL  AND  CRITICAL  SKETCHES 


WITH   A   SPECIAL    INTRODUCTION    BY 
JULIAN   HAWTHORNE 


REVISED   EDITION 


VOLUME   II 


'V\ 


uummwoxL 


THE 


Copyright,  1900, 
By  THE  COLONIAL  PRESS. 


SRLF 

V. 


CONTENTS 

PACE 

William  Pitt » 

On  His  Refusal  to  Negotiate  With  Bonaparte 3 

George  Canning , , 55 

On  Granting  Aid  to  Portugal .  . . .  57 

Daniel  O'Connell 77 

On  the  Rights  of  Catholics 79 

Robert  Emmet 91 

Protest  Against  Sentence  as  a  Traitor 93 

Thomas  Chalmers 101 

God's  Sympathy  for  Man 103 

Lord  Palmerston  (Henry  John  Temple) 117 

Arbitration , 119 

Lord  John  Russell 131 

The  Church  of  Ireland 133 

The  Earl  of  Derby  (Edward  Henry  Smith  Stanley) 157 

Life  and  Culture , 1 59 

John  Henry,  Cardinal  Newman 175 

The  Immortality  of  the  Soul 177 

Richard  Cobden 185 

On  the  Effects  of  Protection 187 

Benjamin  Disraeli,  Lord  Beaconsfield 211 

On  the  Political  Situation 213 

Henry  Edward,  Cardinal  Manning 229 

On  Progress -  - 231 

William  Ewart  Gladstone 251 

On  Domestic  and  Foreign  Affairs 253 

The  Established  Church  in  Ireland „ 283 

John  Bright 333 

Peace  and  War 335 

Dean  Stanley  (Arthur  Penrhyn  Stanley) 347 

Funeral  Oration  on  Lord  Palmerston 349 

Lord  Salisbury  (Robert  Arthur  Talbot  Gascoyne  Cecil)  359 

One-Man  Power 361 

Canon  Farrar  (Frederic  William  Farrar) 381 

Funeral  Oration  on  General  Grant 383 

iii 


ON    HIS    REFUSAL    TO     NEGOTIATE 
WITH     BONAPARTE 


BY 


WILLIAM     PITT 


WILLIAM   PITT 
1759— 1806 

William  Pitt  the  younger  was  remarkable  for  the  precocity  of  his 
powers,  as  well  as  for  the  superiority  of  the  powers  themselves.  His 
life  lasted  but  forty-seven  years,  yet  he  was  for  some  twenty-three  years 
practically  the  ruler  of  England,  and  died  in  the  harness ;  the  inter- 
regnum of  the  Addington  ministry,  1801  to  1804,  was  made  up  of  his 
supporters.  His  career  did  not  begin  until  the  American  Revolution 
was  practically  over ;  but  had  he  been  able  to  deal  with  it,  it  is  prob- 
able that  the  example  of  his  great  father,  as  well  as  his  sympathy  with 
Burke,  not  to  speak  of  his  own  generous  and  magnanimous  character, 
would  have  prompted  him  to  favor  the  contentions  of  the  colonists. 
But  as  it  was,  his  life  was  passed  in  the  struggle  with  Napoleon ;  and 
his  death  was  thought  to  have  been  hastened  by  his  grief  at  the  vic- 
tories of  the  latter  over  the  combined  armies,  culminating  with  the  rout 
of  Austerlitz.  In  addition  to  his  foreign  policy,  however,  Pitt  gave 
vigorous  attention  to  internal  affairs ;  and  was  severe  in  repressing  the 
Jacobins ;  while  his  effort  to  remove  some  of  the  Roman  Catholic  dis- 
abilities, being  opposed  by  the  King,  led  to  his  resignation  from  office 
in  1801. 

For  a  man  thoroughly  honorable,  and  devoted  to  the  public  weal ; 
pure  in  life,  public  and  private ;  and  endowed  with  signal  abilities,  Pitt 
incurred  more  and  bitterer  enmities  than  any  contemporary  public  man. 
He  was  hated  on  the  Continent  with  a  virulence  which  could  not  be  sur- 
passed ;  and  his  political  opponents  in  England  were  hardly  less  un- 
measured in  their  abuse  of  him.  The  cause  of  this  is  probably  to  be 
sought  in  the  austerity  of  his  personal  bearing,  the  lack  of  lightness  and 
sunshine  in  his  nature,  his  preoccupation  with  affairs,  to  the  exclusion 
of  all  those  relaxations  and  common  human  sympathies  which  make 
men  acquainted  with  one  another,  and  form  the  real  basis  of  their 
friendly  communion  with  one  another.  Pitt  was  solitary,  dry,  forbid- 
ding, proud,  and  uncongenial ;  he  took  everything  seriously,  and  felt  to 
the  full  his  own  enormous  responsibilities.  The  formality  and  loftiness 
of  his  manners,  his  impatience  of  opposition,  his  indifference  to  the  sen- 
sibilities of  others,  and  the  secrecy  with  which  he  hedged  about  most 
of  his  acts,  combined  to  raise  up  foes  and  to  give  plausibility  to  slan- 
ders. Probably  no  man  who  has  attained  equal  eminence,  and  whose 
deeds  have  been  so  consistently  honorable  and  patriotic,  has  met  during 
his  lifetime  with  so  much  misrepresentation  and  obloquy.  But  history 
has  done  him  justice  as  one  of  the  great  men  of  England. 

A  great  orator  he  could  hardly  be  termed,  especially  when  compared 
with  the  mighty  genius  of  some  of  his  contemporaries  and  immediate 
predecessors.  But  all  that  he  said  had  weight  and  point,  and  tended 
to  the  making  of  history.  One  of  his  most  interesting  speeches  was  de- 
livered in  the  House  of  Commons  on  February  3,  1800,  defending  his 
refusal  to  negotiate  with  Bonaparte  for  a  peace  with  France. 


ON   HIS   REFUSAL  TO   NEGOTIATE  WITH 

BONAPARTE 

SIR :  I  am  induced,  at  this  period  of  the  debate,  to  offer  my 
sentiments  to  the  House,  both  from  an  apprehension  that 
at  a  later  hour  the  attention  of  the  House  must  neces- 
sarily be  exhausted,  and  because  the  sentiment  with  which  the 
honorable  and  learned  gentleman  [Mr.  Erskine]  began  his 
speech,  and  with  which  he  has  thought  proper  to  conclude  it, 
places  the  question  precisely  on  that  ground  on  which  I  am  most 
desirous  of  discussing  it.  The  learned  gentleman  seems  to  as- 
sume as  the  foundation  of  his  reasoning,  and  as  the  great  argu- 
ment for  immediate  treaty,  that  every  effort  to  overturn  the 
system  of  the  French  Revolution  must  be  unavailing ;  and  that 
it  would  be  not  only  imprudent,  but  almost  impious,  to  strug- 
gle longer  against  that  order  of  things  which,  on  I  know  not 
what  principle  of  predestination,  he  appears  to  consider  as  im- 
mortal. Little  as  I  am  inclined  to  accede  to  this  opinion,  I  am 
not  sorry  that  the  honorable  gentleman  has  contemplated  the 
subject  in  this  serious  view.  I  do,  indeed,  consider  the  French 
Revolution  as  the  severest  trial  which  the  visitation  of  Provi- 
dence has  ever  yet  inflicted  upon  the  nations  of  the  earth ;  but 
I  cannot  help  reflecting,  with  satisfaction,  that  this  country,  even 
under  such  a  trial,  has  not  only  been  exempted  from  those 
calamities  which  have  covered  almost  every  other  part  of  Eu- 
rope, but  appears  to  have  been  reserved  as  a  refuge  and  asylum 
to  those  who  fled  from  its  persecution,  as  a  barrier  to  oppose  its 
progress,  and  perhaps  ultimately  as  an  instrument  to  deliver 
the  world  from  the  crimes  and  miseries  which  have  attended  it. 
Under  this  impression,  I  trust  the  House  will  forgive  me,  if 
I  endeavor,  as  far  as  I  am  able,  to  take  a  large  and  comprehen- 
sive view  of  this  important  question.  In  doing  so,  I  agree  with 
my  honorable  friend  [Mr.  Canning]  that  it  would,  in  any  case, 
be  impossible  to  separate  the  present  discussion  from  the  former 

3 


4  PITT 

crimes  and  atrocities  of  the  French  Revolution ;  because  both 
the  papers  now  on  the  table,  and  the  whole  of  the  learned  gen- 
tleman's argument,  force  upon  our  consideration  the  origin  of 
the  war,  and  all  the  material  facts  which  have  occurred  during 
its  continuance.  The  learned  gentleman  [Mr.  Erskine]  has 
revived  and  retailed  all  those  arguments  from  his  own  pam- 
phlet, which  had  before  passed  through  thirty-seven  or  thirty- 
eight  editions  in  print,  and  now  gives  them  to  the  House  em- 
bellished by  the  graces  of  his  personal  delivery.  The  First 
Consul  has  also  thought  fit  to  revive  and  retail  the  chief  argu- 
ments used  by  all  the  opposition  speakers  and  all  the  opposition 
publishers  in  this  country  during  the  last  seven  years.  And 
(what  is  still  more  material)  the  question  itself,  which  is  now 
immediately  at  issue — the  question  whether,  under  the  present 
circumstances,  there  is  such  a  prospect  of  security  from  any 
treaty  with  France  as  ought  to  induce  us  to  negotiate — cannot 
be  properly  decided  upon  without  retracing,  both  from  our  own 
experience  and  from  that  of  other  nations,  the  nature,  the  causes, 
and  the  magnitude  of  the  danger  against  which  we  have  to 
guard,  in  order  to  judge  of  the  security  which  we  ought  to 
accept. 

I  say,  then,  that  before  any  man  can  concur  in  opinion  with 
that  learned  gentleman  ;  before  any  man  can  think  that  the  sub- 
stance of  His  Majesty's  answer  is  any  other  than  the  safety  of 
the  country  required  ;  before  any  man  can  be  of  opinion  that,  to 
the  overtures  made  by  the  enemy,  at  such  a  time  and  under 
such  circumstances,  it  would  have  been  safe  to  return  an 
answer  concurring  in  the  negotiation — he  must  come  within  one 
of  the  three  following  descriptions :  He  must  either  believe  that 
the  French  Revolution  neither  does  now  exhibit  nor  has  at  any 
time  exhibited  such  circumstances  of  danger,  arising  out  of  the 
very  nature  of  the  system,  and  the  internal  state  and  condition 
of  France,  as  to  leave  to  foreign  powers  no  adequate  ground  of 
security  in  negotiation ;  or,  secondly,  he  must  be  of  opinion 
that  the  change  which  has  recently  taken  place  has  given  that 
security  which,  in  the  former  stages  of  the  Revolution,  was 
wanting;  or,  thirdly,  he  must  be  one  who,  believing  that  the 
danger  exists,  not  undervaluing  its  extent  nor  mistaking  its 
nature,  nevertheless  thinks,  from  his  view  of  the  present  pres- 
sure on  the  country,  from  his  view  of  its  situation  and  its  pros- 


HIS  REFUSAL  TO  NEGOTIATE  WITH  BONAPARTE   5 

pects,  compared  with  the  situation  and  prospects  of  its  ene- 
mies, that  we  are,  with  our  eyes  open,  bound  to  accept  of 
inadequate  security  for  everything  that  is  valuable  and  sacred, 
rather  than  endure  the  pressure,  or  incur  the  risk,  which  would 
result  from  a  further  prolongation  of  the  contest. 

In  discussing  the  last  of  these  questions,  we  shall  be  led  to 
consider  what  inference  is  to  be  drawn  from  the  circumstances 
and  the  result  of  our  own  negotiations  in  former  periods  of  the 
war ;  whether,  in  the  comparative  state  of  this  country  and 
France,  we  now  see  the  same  reason  for  repeating  our  then 
unsuccessful  experiments ;  or  whether  we  have  not  thence  de- 
rived the  lessons  of  experience,  added  to  the  deductions  of  rea- 
son, marking  the  inefficacy  and  danger  of  the  very  measures 
which  are  quoted  to  us  as  precedents  for  our  adoption. 

Unwilling,  sir,  as  I  am  to  go  into  much  detail  on  ground  which 
has  been  so  often  trodden  before ;  yet,  when  I  find  the  learned 
gentleman,  after  all  the  information  which  he  must  have  re- 
ceived, if  he  has  read  any  of  the  answers  to  his  work  (however 
ignorant  he  might  be  when  he  wrote  it),  still  giving  the  sanc- 
tion of  his  authority  to  the  supposition  that  the  order  to  M. 
Chauvelin  [French  minister]  to  depart  from  this  kingdom  was 
the  cause  of  the  war  between  this  country  and  France,  I  do 
feel  it  necessary  to  say  a  few  words  on  that  part  of  the  subject. 

Inaccuracy  in  dates  seems  to  be  a  sort  of  fatality  common 
to  all  who  have  written  on  that  side  of  the  question ;  for  even 
the  writer  of  the  note  to  His  Majesty  is  not  more  correct,  in 
this  respect,  than  if  he  had  taken  his  information  only  from  the 
pamphlet  of  the  learned  gentleman.  The  House  will  recollect 
the  first  professions  of  the  French  Republic,  which  are  enu- 
merated, and  enumerated  truly,  in  that  note.  They  are  tests 
of  everything  which  would  best  recommend  a  government  to 
the  esteem  and  confidence  of  foreign  powers,  and  the  reverse  of 
everything  which  has  been  the  system  and  practice  of  France 
now  for  near  ten  years.  It  is  there  stated  that  their  first  prin- 
ciples were  love  of  peace,  aversion  to  conquest,  and  respect  for 
the  independence  of  other  countries.  In  the  same  note  it  seems, 
indeed,  admitted  that  they  since  have  violated  all  those  prin- 
ciples ;  but  it  is  alleged  that  they  have  done  so  only  in  conse- 
quence of  the  provocation  of  other  powers.  One  of  the  first  of 
those  provocations  is  stated  to  have  consisted  in  the  various  out- 


6  PITT 

rages  offered  to  their  ministers,  of  which  the  example  is  said  to 
have  been  set  by  the  King  of  Great  Britain  in  his  conduct  to  M. 
Chauvelin.  In  answer  to  this  supposition,  it  is  only  necessary 
to  remark  that  before  the  example  was  given,  before  Austria 
and  Prussia  are  supposed  to  have  been  thus  encouraged  to  com- 
bine in  a  plan  for  the  partition  of  France,  that  plan,  if  it  ever 
existed  at  all,  had  existed  and  been  acted  upon  for  above  eight 
months.  France  and  Prussia  had  been  at  war  eight  months  be- 
fore the  dismissal  of  M.  Ch;  uvelin.  So  much  for  the  accuracy 
of  the  statement. 

I  have  been  hitherto  commenting  on  the  arguments  contained 
in  the  notes.  I  come  now  to  those  of  the  learned  gentleman. 
I  understand  him  to  say  that  the  dismissal  of  M.  Chauvelin  was 
the  real  cause,  I  do  not  say  of  the  general  war,  but  of  the  rupture 
between  France  and  England ;  and  the  learned  gentleman  states 
particularly  that  this  dismissal  rendered  all  discussion  of  the 
points  in  dispute  impossible.  Now  I  desire  to  meet  distinctly 
every  part  of  this  assertion.  I  maintain,  on  the  contrary,  that 
an  opportunity  was  given  for  discussing  every  matter  in  dispute 
between  France  and  Great  Britain  as  fully  as  if  a  regular  and 
accredited  French  minister  had  been  resident  here;  that  the 
causes  of  war  which  existed  at  the  beginning,  or  arose  during  the 
course  of  this  discussion,  were  such  as  would  have  justified, 
twenty  times  over,  a  declaration  of  war  on  the  part  of  this 
country ;  that  all  the  explanations  on  the  part  of  France  were 
evidently  unsatisfactory  and  inadmissible,  and  that  M.  Chau- 
velin had  given  in  a  peremptory  ultimatum,  declaring  that  if 
these  explanations  were  not  received  as  sufficient,  and  if  we 
did  not  immediately  disarm,  our  refusal  would  be  considered 
as  a  declaration  of  war.  After  this  followed  that  scene  which  no 
man  can  even  now  speak  of  without  horror,  or  think  of  without 
indignation ;  that  murder  and  regicide  from  which  I  was  sorry 
to  hear  the  learned  gentleman  date  the  beginning  of  the  legal 
government  of  France. 

Having  thus  given  in  their  ultimatum,  they  added,  as  a  further 
demand  (while  we  were  smarting  under  accumulated  injuries, 
for  which  all  satisfaction  was  denied)  that  we  should  instantly 
receive  M.  Chauvelin  as  their  ambassador,  with  new  credentials, 
representing  them  in  the  character  which  they  had  just  derived 
from  the  murder  of  their  sovereign.     We  replied,  "  He  came 


HIS  REFUSAL  TO  NEGOTIATE  WITH  BONAPARTE       7 

here  as  the  representative  of  a  sovereign  whom  you  have  put  to 
a  cruel  and  illegal  death ;  we  have  no  satisfaction  for  the  in- 
juries we  have  received,  no  security  from  the  danger  with  which 
we  are  threatened.  Under  these  circumstances  we  will  not 
receive  your  new  credentials.  The  former  credentials  you  have 
yourself  recalled  by  the  sacrifice  of  your  king." 

What,  from  that  moment,  was  the  situation  of  M.  Chauvelin? 
He  was  reduced  to  the  situation  of  a  private  individual,  and  was 
required  to  quit  the  kingdom  under  the  provisions  of  the  Alien 
Act,  which,  for  the  purpose  of  securing  domestic  tranquillity, 
had  recently  invested  His  Majesty  with  the  power  of  removing 
out  of  this  kingdom  all  foreigners  suspected  of  revolutionary 
principles.  Is  it  contended  that  he  was  then  less  liable  to  the 
provisions  of  that  act  than  any  other  individual  foreigner,  whose 
conduct  afforded  to  government  just  ground  of  objection  or 
suspicion?  Did  his  conduct  and  connections  here  afford  no 
such  ground  ?  or  will  it  be  pretended  that  the  bare  act  of  refus- 
ing to  receive  fresh  credentials  from  an  infant  republic,  not  then 
acknowledged  by  any  one  power  of  Europe,  and  in  the  very  act 
of  heaping  upon  us  injuries  and  insults,  was  of  itself  a  cause 
of  war?  So  far  from  it,  that  even  the  very  nations  of  Europe 
whose  wisdom  and  moderation  have  been  repeatedly  extolled  for 
maintaining  neutrality,  and  preserving  friendship  with  the 
French  Republic,  remained  for  years  subsequent  to  this  period 
without  receiving  from  it  any  accredited  minister,  or  doing  any 
one  act  to  acknowledge  its  political  existence. 

In  answer  to  a  representation  from  the  belligerent  powers,  in 
December,  1793,  Count  Bernstorff,  the  minister  of  Denmark, 
officially  declared  that  "  it  was  well  known  that  the  National 
Convention  had  appointed  M.  Grouville  minister  plenipotentiary 
at  Denmark,  but  that  it  was  also  well  known  that  he  had  neither 
been  received  nor  acknowledged  in  that  quality."  And  as  late 
as  February,  1796,  when  the  same  minister  was  at  length,  for 
the  first  time,  received  in  his  official  capacity,  Count  Bernstorff, 
in  a  public  note,  assigned  this  reason  for  that  change  of  con- 
duct :  "  So  long  as  no  other  than  a  revolutionary  government 
existed  in  France,  His  Majesty  could  not  acknowledge  the  min- 
ister of  that  government ;  but  now  that  the  French  constitution 
is  completely  organized,  and  a  regular  government  established 
in  France,  His  Majesty's  obligation  ceases  in  that  respect,  and 


8  PITT 

M.  Grouville  will  therefore  be  acknowledged  in  the  usual  form." 
How  far  the  Court  of  Denmark  was  justified  in  the  opinion  that 
a  revolutionary  government  then  no  longer  existed  in  France 
it  is  not  now  necessary  to  inquire ;  but  whatever  may  have  been 
the  fact  in  that  respect,  the  principle  on  which  they  acted  is  clear 
and  intelligible,  and  is  a  decisive  instance  in  favor  of  the  propo- 
sition which  I  have  maintained. 

Is  it,  then,  necessary  to  examine  what  were  the  terms  of  that 
ultimatum  with  which  we  refused  to  comply?  Acts  of  hostility 
had  been  openly  threatened  against  our  allies ;  a  hostility 
founded  upon  the  assumption  of  a  right  which  would  at  once 
supersede  the  whole  law  of  nations.  The  pretended  right  to 
open  the  Scheldt  we  discussed  at  the  time,  not  so  much  on  ac- 
count of  its  immediate  importance  (though  it  was  important 
both  in  a  maritime  and  commercial  view)  as  on  account  of  the 
general  principle  on  which  it  was  founded.  On  the  same  ar- 
bitrary notion  they  soon  afterward  discovered  that  sacred  law 
of  nature  which  made  the  Rhine  and  the  Alps  the  legitimate 
boundaries  of  France,  and  assumed  the  power,  which  they  have 
affected  to  exercise  through  the  whole  of  the  Revolution,  of 
superseding,  by  a  new  code  of  their  own,  all  the  recognized 
principles  of  the  law  of  nations.  They  were,  in  fact,  actually 
advancing  towards  the  republic  of  Holland,  by  rapid  strides, 
after  the  victory  of  Jemappes,  and  they  had  ordered  their  gen- 
erals to  pursue  the  Austrian  troops  into  any  neutral  country, 
thereby  explicitly  avowing  an  intention  of  invading  Holland. 
They  had  already  shown  their  moderation  and  self-denial  by  in- 
corporating Belgium  with  the  French  Republic.  These  lovers 
of  peace,  who  set  out  with  a  sworn  aversion  to  conquest,  and 
professions  of  respect  for  the  independence  of  other  nations ; 
who  pretend  that  they  departed  from  this  system  only  in  con- 
sequence of  your  aggression,  themselves,  in  time  of  peace,  while 
you  were  still  confessedly  neutral,  without  the  pretence  or  shad- 
ow of  provocation,  wrested  Savoy  from  the  King  of  Sardinia, 
and  had  proceeded  to  incorporate  it  likewise  with  France. 
These  were  their  aggressions  at  this  period,  and  more  than  these. 
They  had  issued  a  universal  declaration  of  war  against  all  the 
thrones  of  Europe,  and  they  had,  by  their  conduct,  applied  it 
particularly  and  specifically  to  you.  They' had  passed  the  decree 
of  November  19,  1792,  proclaiming  the  promise  of  French  sue- 


HIS  REFUSAL  TO  NEGOTIATE  WITH  BONAPARTE   9 

cor  to  all  nations  who  should  manifest  a  wish  to  become  free ; 
they  had,  by  all  their  language  as  well  as  their  example,  shown 
what  they  understood  to  be  freedom ;  they  had  sealed  their 
principles  by  the  deposition  of  their  sovereign  ;  they  had  applied 
them  to  England  by  inviting  and  encouraging  the  addresses  of 
those  seditious  and  traitorous  societies,  who,  from  the  begin- 
ning, favored  their  views,  and  who,  encouraged  by  your  for- 
bearance, were  even  then  publicly  avowing  French  doctrines, 
and  anticipating  their  success  in  this  country — who  were  hail- 
ing the  progress  of  those  proceedings  in  France  which  led  to  the 
murder  of  its  king ;  they  were  even  then  looking  to  the  day 
when  they  should  behold  a  National  Convention  in  England 
formed  upon  similar  principles. 

And  what  were  the  explanations  they  offered  on  these  differ- 
ent grounds  of  offence?  As  to  Holland:  they  told  you  the 
Scheldt  was  too  insignificant  for  you  to  trouble  yourselves 
about,  and  therefore  it  was  to  be  decided  as  they  chose,  in 
breach  of  positive  treaty,  which  they  had  themselves  guaranteed, 
and  which  we,  by  our  alliance,  were  bound  to  support.  If,  how- 
ever, after  the  war  was  over,  Belgium  should  have  consolidated 
its  liberty  (a  term  of  which  we  now  know  the  meaning,  from  the 
fate  of  every  nation  into  which  the  arms  of  France  have  pen- 
etrated) then  Belgium  and  Holland  might,  if  they  pleased,  settle 
the  question  of  the  Scheldt  by  separate  negotiation  between 
themselves.  With  respect  to  aggrandizement,  they  assured  us 
that  they  would  retain  possession  of  Belgium  by  arms  no  longer 
than  they  should  find  it  necessary  to  the  purpose  already  stated, 
of  consolidating  its  liberty.  And  with  respect  to  the  decree  of 
November  19,  1792,  applied  as  it  was  pointedly  to  you,  by  all 
the  intercourse  I  have  stated  with  all  the  seditious  and  traitorous 
part  of  this  country,  and  particularly  by  the  speeches  of  every 
leading  man  among  them,  they  contented  themselves  with  as- 
serting that  the  declaration  conveyed  no  such  meaning  as  was 
imputed  to  it,  and  that,  so  far  from  encouraging  sedition,  it 
could  apply  only  to  countries  where  a  great  majority  of  the  peo- 
ple should  have  already  declared  itself  in  favor  of  a  revolution : 
a  supposition  which,  as  they  asserted,  necessarily  implied  a  total 
absence  of  all  sedition. 

What  would  have  been  the  effect  of  admitting  this  explana- 
tion? to  suffer  a  nation,  and  an  armed  nation,  to  preach  to  the 


io  PITT 

inhabitants  of  all  the  countries  in  the  world  that  they  themselves 
were  slaves  and  their  rulers  tyrants ;  to  encourage  and  invite 
them  to  revolution  by  a  previous  promise  of  French  support  to 
whatever  might  call  itself  a  majority,  or  to  whatever  France 
might  declare  to  be  so.  This  was  their  explanation ;  and  this, 
they  told  you,  was  their  ultimatum. 

But  was  this  all?  Even  at  that  very  moment,  when  they 
were  endeavoring  to  induce  you  to  admit  these  explanations,  to 
be  contented  with  the  avowal  that  France  offered  herself  as  a 
general  guarantee  for  every  successful  revolution,  and  would 
interfere  only  to  sanction  and  confirm  whatever  the  free  and 
uninfluenced  choice  of  the  people  might  have  decided,  what 
were  their  orders  to  their  generals  on  the  same  subject?  In 
the  midst  of  these  amicable  explanations  with  you  came  forth 
a  decree  which  I  really  believe  must  be  effaced  from  the  minds 
of  gentlemen  opposite  to  me,  if  they  can  prevail  upon  themselves 
for  a  moment  to  hint  even  a  doubt  upon  the  origin  of  this  quar- 
rel, not  only  as  to  this  country,  but  as  to  all  the  nations  of 
Europe  with  whom  France  has  been  subsequently  engaged  in 
hostility.  I  speak  of  the  decree  of  December  15,  1792.  This 
decree,  more  even  than  all  the  previous  transactions,  amounted 
to  a  universal  declaration  of  war  against  all  thrones,  and  against 
all  civilized  governments.  It  said,  wherever  the  armies  of 
France  shall  come  (whether  within  countries  then  at  war  or  at 
peace  is  not  distinguished)  in  all  those  countries  it  shall  be 
the  first  care  of  their  generals  to  introduce  the  principles  and  the 
practice  of  the  French  Revolution ;  to  demolish  all  privileged 
orders,  and  everything  which  obstructs  the  establishment  of 
their  new  system. 

If  any  doubt  is  entertained  whither  the  armies  of  France 
were  intended  to  come ;  if  it  is  contended  that  they  referred 
only  to  those  nations  with  whom  they  were  then  at  war,  or 
with  whom,  in  the  course  of  this  contest,  they  might  be  driven 
into  war ;  let  it  be  remembered  that  at  this  very  moment  they 
had  actually  given  orders  to  their  generals  to  pursue  the  Aus- 
trian army  from  the  Netherlands  into  Holland,  with  whom 
they  were  at  that  time  in  peace.  Or,  even  if  the  construction 
contended  for  is  admitted,  let  us  see  what  would  have  been  its 
application,  let  us  look  at  the  list  of  their  aggressions,  which  was 
read  by  my  right  honorable  friend   [Mr.  Dundas]   near  me. 


HIS  REFUSAL  TO  NEGOTIATE  WITH  BONAPARTE  n 

With  whom  have  they  been  at  war  since  the  period  of  this 
declaration?  With  all  the  nations  of  Europe  save  two  (Sweden 
and  Denmark),  and  if  not  with  these  two,  it  is  only  because, 
with  every  provocation  that  could  justify  defensive  war,  those 
countries  have  hitherto  acquiesced  in  repeated  violations  of 
their  rights  rather  than  recur  to  war  for  their  vindication. 
Wherever  their  arms  have  been  carried  it  will  be  a  matter  of 
short  subsequent  inquiry  to  trace  whether  they  have  faithfully 
applied  these  principles.  If  in  terms  this  decree  is  a  denuncia- 
tion of  war  against  all  governments ;  if  in  practice  it  has  been 
applied  against  every  one  with  which  France  has  come  into  con- 
tact ;  what  is  it  but  the  deliberate  code  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tion, from  the  birth  of  the  republic,  which  has  never  once  been 
departed  from,  which  has  been  enforced  with  unremitted  rigor 
against  all  the  nations  that  have  come  into  their  power  ? 

If  there  could  otherwise  be  any  doubt  whether  the  applica- 
tion of  this  decree  was  intended  to  be  universal,  whether  it  ap- 
plied to  all  nations,  and  to  England  particularly ;  there  is  one 
circumstance  which  alone  would  be  decisive — that  nearly  at  the 
same  period  it  was  proposed  [by  M.  Baraillon],  in  the  National 
Convention,  to  declare  expressly  that  the  decree  of  November 
19th  was  confined  to  the  nations  with  whom  they  were  then  at 
war;  and  that  proposal  was  rejected  by  a  great  majority,  by 
that  very  Convention  from  whom  we  were  desired  to  receive 
these  explanations  as  satisfactory. 

Such,  sir,  was  the  nature  of  the  system.  Let  us  examine  a 
little  farther,  whether  it  was  from  the  beginning  intended  to 
be  acted  upon  in  the  extent  which  I  have  stated.  At  the  very 
moment  when  their  threats  appeared  to  many  little  else  than  the 
ravings  of  madmen,  they  were  digesting  and  methodizing  the 
means  of  execution,  as  accurately  as  if  they  had  actually  fore- 
seen the  extent  to  which  they  have  since  been  able  to  realize 
their  criminal  projects.  They  sat  down  coolly  to  devise  the 
most  regular  and  effectual  mode  of  making  the  application  of 
this  system  the  current  business  of  the  day,  and  incorporating  it 
with  the  general  orders  of  their  army;  for  (will  the  House 
believe  it!)  this  confirmation  of  the  decree  of  November  19th 
was  accompanied  by  an  exposition  and  commentary  addressed 
to  the  general  of  every  army  of  France,  containing  a  schedule 
as  coolly  conceived,  and  as  methodically  reduced,  as  any  by 


12  PITT 

which  the  most  quiet  business  of  a  justice  of  peace,  or  the  most 
regular  routine  of  any  department  of  state  in  this  country  could 
be  conducted.  Each  commander  was  furnished  with  one  gen- 
eral blank  formula  of  a  letter  for  all  the  nations  of  the  world ! 

The  people  of  France  to  the  people  of ,  Greeting,  "  We  are 

come  to  expel  your  tyrants."  Even  this  was  not  all ;  one  of 
the  articles  of  the  decree  of  the  fifteenth  of  December  was  ex- 
pressly "  that  those  who  should  show  themselves  so  brutish 
and  so  enamored  of  their  chains  as  to  refuse  the  restoration  of 
their  rights,  to  renounce  liberty  and  equality,  or  to  preserve,  re- 
call, or  treat  with  their  prince  or  privileged  orders,  were  not 
entitled  to  the  distinction  which  France,  in  other  cases,  had 
justly  established  between  government  and  people;  and  that 
such  a  people  ought  to  be  treated  according  to  the  rigor  of  war, 
and  of  conquest."  Here  is  their  love  of  peace;  here  is  their 
aversion  to  conquest ;  here  is  their  respect  for  the  independence 
of  other  nations ! 

It  was  then,  after  receiving  such  explanations  as  these,  after 
receiving  the  ultimatum  of  France,  and  after  M.  Chauvelin's 
credentials  had  ceased,  that  he  was  required  to  depart.  Even  at 
that  period  I  am  almost  ashamed  to  record  it,  we  did  not  on  our 
part  shut  the  door  against  other  attempts  to  negotiate,  but  this 
transaction  was  immediately  followed  by  the  declaration  of  war, 
proceeding  not  from  England  in  vindication  of  her  rights,  but 
from  France,  as  the  completion  of  the  injuries  and  insults  they 
had  offered.  And  on  a  war  thus  originating,  can  it  be  doubted 
by  an  English  House  of  Commons  whether  the  aggression  was 
on  the  part  of  this  country  or  of  France  ?  or  whether  the  mani- 
fest aggression  on  the  part  of  France  was  the  result  of  anything 
but  the  principles  which  characterize  the  French  Revolution? 

What,  then,  are  the  resources  and  subterfuges  by  which  those 
who  agree  with  the  learned  gentleman  are  prevented  from  sink- 
ing under  the  force  of  this  simple  statement  of  facts?  None 
but  what  are  found  in  the  insinuation  contained  in  the  note  from 
France,  that  this  country  had,  previous  to  the  transactions  to 
which  I  have  referred,  encouraged  and  supported  the  combina- 
tion of  other  powers  directed  against  them. 

Upon  this  part  of  the  subject,  the  proofs  which  contradict 
such  an  insinuation  are  innumerable.  In  the  first  place,  the 
evidence  of  dates ;   in  the  second  place,  the  admission  of  all  the 


HIS  REFUSAL  TO  NEGOTIATE  WITH  BONAPARTE  13 

different  parties  in  France ;  of  the  friends  of  Brissot,  charging 
on  Robespierre  the  war  with  this  country,  and  of  the  friends 
of  Robespierre  charging  it  on  Brissot,  but  both  acquitting  Eng- 
land ;  the  testimonies  of  the  French  government  during  the 
whole  interval,  since  the  declaration  of  Pilnitz  and  the  pretended 
treaty  of  Pavia ;  the  first  of  which  had  not  the  slightest  rela- 
tion to  any  project  of  partition  or  dismemberment ;  the  second 
of  which  I  firmly  believe  to  be  an  absolute  fabrication  and 
forgery,  and  in  neither  of  which,  even  as  they  are  represented, 
any  reason  has  been  assigned  for  believing  that  this  country  had 
any  share.  Even  M.  Talleyrand  himself  was  sent  by  the  con- 
stitutional king  of  the  French,  after  the  period  when  that  con- 
cert which  is  now  charged  must  have  existed,  if  it  existed  at 
all,  with  a  letter  from  the  King  of  France,  expressly  thanking 
His  Majesty  for  the  neutrality  which  he  had  uniformly  ob- 
served. The  same  fact  is  confirmed  by  the  concurring  evidence 
of  every  person  who  knew  anything  of  the  plans  of  the  King 
of  Sweden  in  1791 ;  the  only  sovereign  who,  I  believe,  at  that 
time  meditated  any  hostile  measures  against  France,  and  whose 
utmost  hopes  were  expressly  stated  to  be,  that  England  would 
not  oppose  his  intended  expedition  ;  by  all  those,  also,  who  knew 
anything  of  the  conduct  of  the  Emperor  or  the  King  of  Prussia  ; 
by  the  clear  and  decisive  testimony  of  M.  Chauvelin  himself  in 
his  despatches  from  hence  to  the  French  government,  since  pub- 
lished by  their  authority ;  by  everything  which  has  occurred 
since  the  war ;  by  the  publications  of  Dumourier ;  by  the  publi- 
cations of  Brissot ;  by  the  facts  that  have  since  come  to  light 
in  America,  with  respect  to  the  mission  of  M.  Genet,  which 
show  that  hostility  against  this  country  was  decided  on  by 
France  long  before  the  period  when  M.  Chauvelin  was  sent 
from  hence,  besides  this,  the  reduction  of  our  peace  establish- 
ment in  the  year  1791,  and  continued  to  the  subsequent  year, 
is  a  fact  from  which  the  inference  is  indisputable ;  a  fact  which, 
I  am  afraid,  shows  not  only  that  we  were  not  waiting  for  the 
occasion  of  war,  but  that,  in  our  partiality  for  a  pacific  system, 
we  had  indulged  ourselves  in  a  fond  and  credulous  security, 
which  wisdom  and  discretion  would  not  have  dictated.  In  ad- 
dition to  every  other  proof,  it  is  singular  enough  that,  in  a 
decree,  on  the  eve  of  a  declaration  of  war  on  the  part  of  France, 
it  is  expressly  stated,  as  for  the  first  time,  that  England  was 


i4  PITT 

then  departing  from  that  system  of  neutrality  which  she  had 
hitherto  observed. 

But,  sir,  I  will  not  rest  merely  on  these  testimonies  or  argu- 
ments, however  strong  and  decisive.  I  assert  distinctly  and 
positively,  and  I  have  the  documents  in  my  hand  to  prove  it,  that 
from  the  middle  of  the  year  1791,  upon  the  first  rumor  of  any 
measure  taken  by  the  Emperor  of  Germany,  and  till  late  in  the 
year  1792,  we  not  only  were  no  parties  to  any  of  the  projects 
imputed  to  the  Emperor,  but,  from  the  political  circumstances 
in  which  we  stood  with  relation  to  that  court,  we  wholly  de- 
clined all  communications  with  him  on  the  subject  of  France. 
To  Prussia,  with  whom  we  were  in  connection,  and  still  more 
decisively  to  Holland,  with  whom  we  were  in  close  and  inti- 
mate correspondence,  we  uniformly  stated  our  unalterable  reso- 
lution to  maintain  neutrality,  and  avoid  interference  in  the  in- 
ternal affairs  of  France,  as  long  as  France  should  refrain  from 
hostile  measures  against  us  and  our  allies.  No  minister  of 
England  had  any  authority  to  treat  with  foreign  states,  even 
provisionally,  for  any  warlike  concert,  till  after  the  battle  of 
Jemappes  ;  till  a  period  subsequent  to  the  repeated  provocations 
which  had  been  offered  to  us,  and  subsequent  particularly  to 
the  decree  of  fraternity  of  the  nineteenth  of  November;  even 
then,  to  what  object  was  it  that  the  concert  which  we  wished 
to  establish,  was  to  be  directed?  If  we  had  then  rightly  cast 
the  true  character  of  the  French  Revolution,  I  cannot  now 
deny  that  we  should  have  been  better  justified  in  a  very  differ- 
ent conduct.  But  it  is  material  to  the  present  argument  to  de- 
clare what  that  conduct  actually  was,  because  it  is  of  itself 
sufficient  to  confute  all  the  pretexts  by  which  the  advocates  of 
France  have  so  long  labored  to  perplex  the  question  of  aggres- 
sion. 

At  that  period  Russia  had  at  length  conceived,  as  well  as  our- 
selves, a  natural  and  just  alarm  for  the  balance  of  Europe,  and 
applied  to  us  to  learn  our  sentiments  on  the  subject.  In  our 
answer  to  this  application  we  imparted  to  Russia  the  principles 
upon  which  we  then  acted,  and  we  communicated  this  answer 
to  Prussia,  with  whom  we  were  connected  in  defensive  alliance. 
I  will  state  shortly  the  leading  part  of  those  principles.  A  de- 
spatch was  sent  from  Lord  Grenville  to  His  Majesty's  minister 
in  Russia,  dated  the  twenty-ninth  of  December,  1792,  stating 


HIS   REFUSAL   TO   NEGOTIATE  WITH   BONAPARTE     15 

a  desire  to  have  an  explanation  set  on  foot  on  the  subject  of  the 
war  with  France.    I  will  read  the  material  parts  of  it. 

"  The  two  leading  points  on  which  such  explanation  will 
naturally  turn  are  the  line  of  conduct  to  be  followed  previous 
to  the  commencement  of  hostilities,  and  with  a  view,  if  pos- 
sible, to  avert  them ;  and  the  nature  and  amount  of  the  forces 
which  the  powers  engaged  in  this  concert  might  be  enabled 
to  use,  supposing  such  extremities  to  be  unavoidable. 

"  With  respect  to  the  first,  it  appears,  on  the  whole,  subject, 
however,  to  future  consideration  and  discussion  with  the  other 
powers,  that  the  most  advisable  step  to  be  taken  would  be,  that 
sufficient  explanation  should  be  had  with  the  powers  at  war 
with  France,  in  order  to  enable  those  not  hitherto  engaged  in  the 
war  to  propose  to  that  country  terms  of  peace.  That  these 
terms  should  be  the  withdrawing  their  arms  within  the  limits 
of  the  French  territory ;  the  abandoning  their  conquests,  the 
rescinding  any  acts  injurious  to  the  sovereignty  or  rights  of  any 
other  nations,  and  the  giving,  in  some  public  and  unequivocal 
manner,  a  pledge  of  their  intention  no  longer  to  foment  troubles 
or  to  excite  disturbances  against  other  governments.  In  return 
for  these  stipulations,  the  different  powers  of  Europe  who 
should  be  parties  to  this  measure  might  engage  to  abandon  all 
measures,  or  views  of  hostility  against  France,  or  interference 
in  their  internal  affairs,  and  to  maintain  a  correspondence  and 
intercourse  of  amity  with  the  existing  powers  in  that  country, 
with  whom  such  a  treaty  may  be  concluded.  If,  as  the  result 
of  this  proposal  so  made  by  the  powers  acting  in  concert,  these 
terms  should  not  be  accepted  by  France,  or  being  accepted, 
should  not  be  satisfactorily  performed,  the  different  powers 
might  then  engage  themselves  to  each  other  to  enter  into  active 
measures  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  the  ends  in  view ;  and 
it  may  be  considered  whether,  in  such  case,  they  might  not  rea- 
sonably look  to  some  indemnity  for  the  expenses  and  hazards 
to  which  they  would  necessarily  be  exposed." 

The  despatch  then  proceeded  to  the  second  point,  that  of  the 
forces  to  be  employed,  on  which  it  is  unnecessary  now  to  speak. 

Now,  sir,  I  would  really  ask  any  person  who  has  been  from 
the  beginning  the  most  desirous  of  avoiding  hostilities,  whether 
it  is  possible  to  conceive  any  measure  to  be  adopted  in  the  situa- 
tion in  which  we  then  stood  which  could  more  evidently  demon- 


16  PITT 

strate  our  desire,  after  repeated  provocations,  to  preserve  peace, 
on  any  terms  consistent  with  our  safety;  or  whether  any  sen- 
timent could  now  be  suggested  which  would  have  more  plainly 
marked  our  moderation,  forbearance,  and  sincerity?  In  say- 
ing this  I  am  not  challenging  the  applause  and  approbation  of 
my  country,  because  I  must  now  confess  that  we  were  too  slow 
in  anticipating  that  danger  of  which  we  had,  perhaps,  even  then 
sufficient  experience,  though  far  short,  indeed,  of  that  which 
we  now  possess,  and  that  we  might  even  then  have  seen,  what 
facts  have  since  but  too  incontestably  proved,  that  nothing  but 
vigorous  and  open  hostility  can  afford  complete  and  adequate 
security  against  revolutionary  principles,  while  they  retain  a 
proportion  of  power  sufficient  to  furnish  the  means  of  war. 

I  will  enlarge  no  farther  on  the  origin  of  the  war.  I  have  read 
and  detailed  to  you  a  system  which  was  in  itself  a  declaration 
of  war  against  all  nations,  which  was  so  intended,  and  which 
has  been  so  applied,  which  has  been  exemplified  in  the  extreme 
peril  and  hazard  of  almost  all  who  for  a  moment  have  trusted 
to  treaty,  and  which  has  not  at  this  hour  overwhelmed  Europe 
in  one  indiscriminate  mass  of  ruin,  only  because  we  have  not 
indulged,  to  a  fatal  extremity,  that  disposition  which  we  have, 
however,  indulged  too  far ;  because  we  have  not  consented  to 
trust  to  profession  and  compromise,  rather  than  to  our  own 
valor  and  exertion,  for  security  against  a  system  from  which 
we  never  shall  be  delivered  till  either  the  principle  is  extin- 
guished, or  till  its  strength  is  exhausted. 

I  might,  sir,  if  I  found  it  necessary,  enter  into  much  detail 
upon  this  part  of  the  subject ;  but  at  present  I  only  beg  leave  to 
express  my  readiness  at  any  time  to  enter  upon  it,  when  either 
my  own  strength  or  the  patience  of  the  House  will  admit  of  it ; 
but  I  say,  without  distinction,  against  every  nation  in  Europe, 
and  against  some  out  of  Europe,  the  principle  has  been  faith- 
fully applied.  You  cannot  look  at  the  map  of  Europe,  and  lay 
your  hand  upon  that  country  against  which  France  has  not  either 
declared  an  open  and  aggressive  war,  or  violated  some  posi- 
tive treaty,  or  broken  some  recognized  principle  of  the  law  of 
nations. 

This  subject  may  be  divided  into  various  periods.  There 
were  some  acts  of  hostility  committed  previous  to  the  war  with 
this  country,  and  very  little,  indeed,  subsequent  to  that  declarer 


HIS  REFUSAL  TO  NEGOTIATE  WITH  BONAPARTE  17 

tion,  which  abjured  the  love  of  conquest.  The  attack  upon  the 
Papal  State,  by  the  seizure  of  Avignon,  in  1791,  was  accom- 
panied with  specimens  of  all  the  vile  arts  and  perfidy  that  ever 
disgraced  a  revolution.  Avignon  was  separated  from  its  lawful 
sovereign,  with  whom  not  even  the  pretence  of  quarrel  existed, 
and  forcibly  incorporated  in  the  tyranny  of  one  and  indivisible 
France.  The  same  system  led,  in  the  same  year,  to  an  aggression 
against  the  whole  German  Empire,  by  the  seizure  of  Porentrui, 
part  of  the  dominions  of  the  Bishop  of  Basle.  Afterwards,  in 
1792,  unpreceded  by  any  declaration  of  war,  or  any  cause  of 
hostility,  and  in  direct  violation  of  the  solemn  pledge  to  abstain 
from  conquest,  they  made  war  against  the  King  of  Sardinia,  by 
the  seizure  of  Savoy,  for  the  purpose  of  incorporating  it,  in  like 
manner,  with  France.  In  the  same  year,  they  had  proceeded 
to  the  declaration  of  war  against  Austria,  against  Prussia,  and 
against  the  German  Empire,  in  which  they  have  been  justified 
only  on  the  ground  of  a  rooted  hostility,  combination,  and 
league  of  sovereigns,  for  the  dismemberment  of  France.  I 
say  that  some  of  the  documents  brought  to  support  this  pre- 
tence are  spurious  and  false.  I  say  that  even  in  those  that  are 
not  so,  there  is  not  one  word  to  prove  the  charge  principally 
relied  upon,  that  of  an  intention  to  effect  the  dismemberment 
of  France,  or  to  impose  upon  it,  by  force,  any  particular  con- 
stitution. I  say  that,  as  far  as  we  have  been  able  to  trace  what 
passed  at  Pilnitz,  the  declaration  there  signed  referred  to  the  im- 
prisonment of  Louis  XVI ;  its  immediate  view  was  to  effect  his 
deliverance,  if  a  concert  sufficiently  extensive  could  be  formed 
with  other  sovereigns  for  that  purpose.  It  left  the  internal  state 
of  France  to  be  decided  by  the  king  restored  to  his  liberty,  with 
the  free  consent  of  the  states  of  his  kingdom,  and  it  did  not 
contain  one  word  relative  to  the  dismemberment  of  France. 

In  the  subsequent  discussions,  which  took  place  in  1792,  and 
which  embraced  at  the  same  time  all  the  other  points  of  jealousy 
which  had  arisen  between  the  two  countries,  the  Declaration  of 
Pilnitz  was  referred  to,  and  explained  on  the  part  of  Austria  in 
a  manner  precisely  conformable  to  what  I  have  now  stated.  The 
amicable  explanations  which  took  place,  both  on  this  subject 
and  on  all  the  matters  in  dispute,  will  be  found  in  the  official 
correspondence  between  the  two  Courts  which  has  been  made 
public ;  and  it  will  be  found,  also,  that  as  long  as  the  negotiation 
Vol.  II.— 2 


18  PITT 

continued  to  be  conducted  through  M.  Delessart,  then  Minister 
for  Foreign  Affairs,  there  was  a  great  prospect  that  those  dis- 
cussions would  be  amicably  terminated  ;  but  it  is  notorious,  and 
has  since  been  clearly  proved  on  the  authority  of  Brissot  himself, 
that  the  violent  party  in  France  considered  such  an  issue  of  the 
negotiation  as  likely  to  be  fatal  to  their  projects,  and  thought, 
to  use  his  own  words,  that  "  war  was  necessary  to  consolidate 
the  Revolution."  For  the  express  purpose  of  producing  the  war 
they  excited  a  popular  tumult  in  Paris ;  they  insisted  upon  and 
obtained  the  dismissal  of  M.  Delessart.  A  new  minister  was 
appointed  in  his  room,  the  tone  of  the  negotiation  was  imme- 
diately changed,  and  an  ultimatum  was  sent  to  the  Emperor, 
similar  to  that  which  was  afterwards  sent  to  this  country,  afford- 
ing him  no  satisfaction  on  his  just  grounds  of  complaint,  and 
requiring  him,  under  those  circumstances,  to  disarm.  The 
first  events  of  the  contest  proved  how  much  more  France  was 
prepared  for  war  than  Austria,  and  afford  a  strong  confirmation 
of  the  proposition  which  I  maintain,  that  no  offensive  intention 
was  entertained  on  the  part  of  the  latter  power. 

War  was  then  declared  against  Austria,  a  war  which  I  state 
to  be  a  war  of  aggression  on  the  part  of  France.  The  King  of 
Prussia  had  declared  that  he  should  consider  war  against  the 
Emperor  or  empire  as  war  against  himself.  He  had  declared 
that,  as  a  coestate  of  the  empire,  he  was  determined  to  defend 
their  rights ;  that,  as  an  ally  of  the  Emperor,  he  would  support 
him  to  the  utmost  against  any  attack ;  and  that,  for  the  sake 
of  his  own  dominions,  he  felt  himself  called  upon  to  resist  the 
progress  of  French  principles,  and  to  maintain  the  balance 
of  power  in  Europe.  With  this  notice  before  them,  France  de- 
clared war  upon  the  Emperor,  and  the  war  with  Prussia  was 
the  necessary  consequence  of  this  aggression,  both  against  the 
Emperor  and  the  empire. 

The  war  against  the  King  of  Sardinia  follows  next.  The 
declaration  of  that  war  was  the  seizure  of  Savoy  by  an  invad- 
ing army — and  on  what  ground?  On  that  which  has  been 
stated  already.  They  had  found  out,  by  some  light  of  nature, 
that  the  Rhine  and  the  Alps  were  the  natural  limits  of  France. 
Upon  that  ground  Savoy  was  seized ;  and  Savoy  was  also  incor- 
porated with  France. 

Here  finishes  the  history  of  the  wars  in  which  France  was 


HIS  REFUSAL  TO  NEGOTIATE  WITH  BONAPARTE 


J9 


engaged  antecedent  to  the  war  with  Great  Britain,  with  Hol- 
land, and  with  Spain.  With  respect  to  Spain,  we  have  seen 
nothing  which  leads  us  to  suspect  that  either  attachment  to  re- 
ligion, or  the  ties  of  consanguinity,  or  regard  to  the  ancient 
system  of  Europe,  was  likely  to  induce  that  Court  to  connect 
itself  in  offensive  war  against  France.  The  war  was  evidently 
and  incontestably  begun  by  France  against  Spain. 

The  case  of  Holland  is  so  fresh  in  every  man's  recollection, 
and  so  connected  with  the  immediate  causes  of  the  war  with  this 
country,  that  it  cannot  require  one  word  of  observation.  What 
shall  I  say,  then,  on  the  case  of  Portugal  ?  I  cannot,  indeed,  say 
that  France  ever  declared  war  against  that  country.  I  can 
hardly  say  even  that  she  ever  made  war,  but  she  required  them 
to  make  a  treaty  of  peace,  as  if  they  had  been  at  war ;  she 
obliged  them  to  purchase  that  treaty ;  she  broke  it  as  soon  as  it 
was  purchased ;  and  she  had  originally  no  other  ground  of 
complaint  than  this,  that  Portugal  had  performed,  though  in- 
adequately, the  engagements  of  its  ancient  defensive  alliance 
with  this  country  in  the  character  of  an  auxiliary — a  conduct 
which  cannot  of  itself  make  any  power  a  principal  in  a  war. 

I  have  now  enumerated  all  the  nations  at  war  at  that  period, 
with  the  exception  only  of  Naples.  It  can  hardly  be  necessary  to 
call  to  the  recollection  of  the  House  the  characteristic  feature 
of  revolutionary  principles  which  was  shown,  even  at  this  early 
period,  in  the  personal  insult  offered  to  the  King  of  Naples  by 
the  commander  of  a  French  squadron  riding  uncontrolled  in 
the  Mediterranean,  and  (while  our  fleets  were  yet  unarmed) 
threatening  destruction  to  all  the  coast  of  Italy. 

It  was  not  till  a  considerably  later  period  that  almost  all  the 
other  nations  of  Europe  found  themselves  equally  involved  in 
actual  hostility  ;  but  it  is  not  a  little  material  to  the  whole  of  my 
argument,  compared  with  the  statement  of  the  learned  gentle- 
man, and  with  that  contained  in  the  French  note,  to  examine  at 
what  period  this  hostility  extended  itself.  It  extended  itself,  in 
the  course  of  1796,  to  the  states  of  Italy  which  had  hitherto 
been  exempted  from  it.  In  1797  it  had  ended  in  the  destruction 
of  most  of  them ;  it  had  ended  in  the  virtual  deposition  of  the 
King  of  Sardinia ;  it  had  ended  in  the  conversion  of  Genoa  and 
Tuscany  into  democratic  republics ;  it  had  ended  in  the  revolu- 
tion of  Venice,  in  the  violation  of  treaties  with  the  new  Venetian 


2o  PITT 

Republic;  and,  finally,  in  transferring  that  very  republic,  the 
creature  and  vassal  of  France,  to  the  dominion  of  Austria. 

I  observe  from  the  gestures  of  some  honorable  gentlemen 
that  they  think  we  are  precluded  from  the  use  of  any  argument 
founded  on  this  last  transaction.  I  already  hear  them  saying 
that  it  was  as  criminal  in  Austria  to  receive  as  it  was  in  France 
to  give.  I  am  far  from  defending  or  palliating  the  conduct  of 
Austria  upon  this  occasion.  But  because  Austria,  unable  at  last 
to  contend  with  the  arms  of  France,  was  forced  to  accept  an 
unjust  and  insufficient  indemnification  for  the  conquests  France 
had  made  from  it,  are  we  to  be  debarred  from  stating  what,  on 
the  part  of  France,  was  not  merely  an  unjust  acquisition,  but 
an  act  of  the  grossest  and  most  aggravated  perfidy  and  cruelty, 
and  one  of  the  most  striking  specimens  of  that  system  which 
has  been  uniformly  and  indiscriminately  applied  to  all  the  coun- 
tries which  France  has  had  within  its  grasp?  This  only  can  be 
said  in  vindication  of  France  (and  it  is  still  more  a  vindication 
of  Austria)  that,  practically  speaking,  if  there  is  any  part  of 
this  transaction  for  which  Venice  itself  has  reason  to  be  grate- 
ful, it  can  only  be  for  the  permission  to  exchange  the  embraces 
of  French  fraternity  for  what  is  called  the  despotism  of  Vienna. 

Let  these  facts  and  these  dates  be  compared  with  what  we 
have  heard.  The  honorable  gentleman  has  told  us,  and  the  au- 
thor of  the  note  from  France  has  told  us  also,  that  all  the  French 
conquests  were  produced  by  the  operations  of  the  allies.  It  was, 
when  they  were  pressed  on  all  sides,  when  their  own  territory 
was  in  danger,  when  their  own  independence  was  in  question, 
when  the  confederacy  appeared  too  strong,  it  was  then  they  used 
the  means  with  which  their  power  and  their  courage  furnished 
them,  and,  "  attacked  upon  all  sides,  they  carried  everywhere 
their  defensive  arms." 

I  do  not  wish  to  misrepresent  the  learned  gentleman,  but  I  un- 
derstood him  to  speak  of  this  sentiment  with  approbation.  The 
sentiment  itself  is  this,  that  if  a  nation  is  unjustly  attacked  in 
any  one  quarter  by  others,  she  cannot  stop  to  consider  by  whom, 
but  must  find  means  of  strength  in  other  quarters,  no  matter 
where;  and  is  justified  in  attacking,  in  her  turn,  those  with 
whom  she  is  at  peace,  and  from  whom  she  has  received  no  spe- 
cies of  provocation.  Sir,  I  hope  I  have  already  proved,  in  a 
great  measure,  that  no  such  attack  was  made  upon  France  ;  but, 


HIS   REFUSAL   TO   NEGOTIATE  WITH   BONAPARTE     21 

if  it  was  made,  I  maintain  that  the  whole  ground  on  which  that 
argument  is  founded  cannot  be  tolerated.  In  the  name  of  the 
laws  of  nature  and  nations,  in  the  name  of  everything  that  is 
sacred  and  honorable,  I  demur  to  that  plea  ;  and  I  tell  that  hon- 
orable and  learned  gentleman  that  he  would  do  well  to  look 
again  into  the  law  of  nations  before  he  ventures  to  come  to  this 
House  to  give  the  sanction  of  his  authority  to  so  dreadful  and 
execrable  a  system. 

I  certainly  understood  this  to  be  distinctly  the  tenor  of  the 
learned  gentleman's  argument,  but  as  he  tells  me  he  did  not 
use  it,  I  take  it  for  granted  he  did  not  intend  to  use  it.  I  re- 
joice that  he  did  not ;  but  at  least,  then,  I  have  a  right  to  ex- 
pect that  the  learned  gentleman  should  now  transfer  to  the 
French  note  some  of  the  indignation  which  he  has  hitherto 
lavished  upon  the  declarations  of  this  country.  This  principle, 
which  the  learned  gentleman  disclaims,  the  French  note  avows ; 
and  I  contend,  without  the  fear  of  contradiction,  it  is  the  prin- 
ciple upon  which  France  has  uniformly  acted.  But  while  the 
learned  gentleman  disclaims  this  proposition,  he  certainly  will 
admit  that  he  has  himself  asserted,  and  maintained  in  the  whole 
course  of  his  argument,  that  the  pressure  of  the  war  upon 
France  imposed  upon  her  the  necessity  of  those  exertions  which 
produced  most  of  the  enormities  of  the  Revolution,  and  most 
of  the  enormities  practised  against  the  other  countries  of  Eu- 
rope. The  House  will  recollect  that,  in  the  year  1796,  when  all 
tbese  horrors  in  Italy  were  beginning,  which  are  the  strongest 
illustrations  of  the  general  character  of  the  French  Revolution, 
we  had  begun  that  negotiation  to  which  the  learned  gentleman 
has  referred.  England  then  possessed  numerous  conquests. 
England,  though  not  having  at  that  time  had  the  advantage  of 
three  of  her  most  splendid  victories,  England  even  then  ap- 
peared undisputed  mistress  of  the  sea.  England,  having  then 
engrossed  the  whole  wealth  of  the  colonial  world  ;  England, 
having  lost  nothing  of  its  original  possessions ;  England  then 
comes  forward,  proposing  a  general  peace,  and  offering — what? 
offering  the  surrender  of  all  that  it  had  acquired,  in  order  to 
obtain — what?  Not  the  dismemberment,  not  the  partition  of 
ancient  France,  but  the  return  of  a  part  of  those  conquests,  no 
one  of  which  could  be  retained,  but  in  direct  contradiction  to 
that  original  and  solemn  pledge  which  is  now  referred  to  as  the 


2  2  PITT 

proof  of  the  just  and  moderate  disposition  of  the  French  Re- 
public. Yet  even  this  offer  was  not  sufficient  to  procure  peace, 
or  to  arrest  the  progress  of  France  in  her  defensive  operations 
against  other  unoffending  countries ! 

From  the  pages,  however,  of  the  learned  gentleman's  pam- 
phlet (which,  after  all  its  editions,  is  now  fresher  in  his  memory 
than  in  that  of  any  other  person  in  this  House  or  in  the  coun- 
try), he  is  furnished  with  an  argument,  on  the  result  of  the 
negotiation,  on  which  he  appears  confidently  to  rely.  He  main- 
tains that  the  single  point  on  which  the  negotiation  was  broken 
off  was  the  question  of  the  possession  of  the  Austrian  Nether- 
lands, and  that  it  is,  therefore,  on  that  ground  only  that  the 
war  has,  since  that  time,  been  continued.  When  this  subject 
was  before  under  discussion,  I  stated,  and  I  shall  state  again 
(notwithstanding  the  learned  gentleman's  accusation  of  my 
having  endeavored  to  shift  the  question  from  its  true  point), 
that  the  question  then  at  issue  was  not  whether  the  Netherlands 
should  in  fact  be  restored ;  though  even  on  that  question  I  am 
not  (like  the  learned  gentleman)  unprepared  to  give  any  opin- 
ion. I  am  ready  to  say,  that  to  leave  that  territory  in  the  pos- 
session of  France  would  be  obviously  dangerous  to  the  interests 
of  this  country,  and  is  inconsistent  with  the  policy  which  it  has 
uniformly  pursued  at  every  period  in  which  it  has  concerned 
itself  in  the  general  system  of  the  Continent.  But  it  was  not  on 
the  decision  of  this  question  of  expediency  and  policy  that  the 
issue  of  the  negotiation  then  turned.  What  was  required  of  us 
by  France  was,  not  merely  that  we  should  acquiesce  in  her  re- 
taining the  Netherlands,  but  that,  as  a  preliminary  to  all  treaty, 
and  before  entering  upon  the  discussion  of  terms,  we  should 
recognize  the  principle  that  whatever  France,  in  time  of  war, 
had  annexed  to  the  republic,  must  remain  inseparable  forever 
and  could  not  become  the  subject  of  negotiation.  I  say  that,  in 
refusing  such  a  preliminary,  we  were  only  resisting  the  claim 
of  France  to  arrogate  to  itself  the  power  of  controlling,  by  its 
own  separate  and  municipal  acts,  the  rights  and  interests  of 
other  countries,  and  moulding,  at  its  discretion,  a  new  and  gen- 
eral code  of  the  law  of  nations. 

In  reviewing  the  issue  of  this  negotiation,  it  is  important  to 
observe  that  France,  who  began  by  abjuring  a  love  of  con- 
quest, was  desired  to  give  up  nothing  of  her  own,  not  even  to 


HIS  REFUSAL  TO  NEGOTIATE  WITH  BONAPARTE  23 

give  up  all  that  she  had  conquered  ;  that  it  was  offered  to  her  to 
receive  back  all  that  had  been  conquered  from  her ;  and  when 
she  rejected  the  negotiation  for  peace  upon  these  grounds,  are 
we  then  to  be  told  of  the  unrelenting  hostility  of  the  combined 
powers,  for  which  France  was  to  revenge  itself  upon  other 
countries,  and  which  is  to  justify  the  subversion  of  every  estab- 
lished government,  and  the  destruction  of  property,  religion, 
and  domestic  comfort,  from  one  end  of  Italy  to  the  other  ?  Such 
was  the  effect  of  the  war  against  Modena,  against  Genoa, 
against  Tuscany,  against  Venice,  against  Rome,  and  against 
Naples,  all  of  which  she  engaged  in,  or  prosecuted,  subsequent 
to  this  very  period. 

After  this,  in  the  year  1797,  Austria  had  made  peace ;  Eng- 
land and  its  ally,  Portugal  (from  whom  we  could  expect  little 
active  assistance,  but  whom  we  felt  it  our  duty  to  defend), 
alone  remained  in  the  war.  In  that  situation,  under  the  pres- 
sure of  necessity,  which  I  shall  not  disguise,  we  made  another 
attempt  to  negotiate.  In  1797,  Prussia,  Spain,  Austria,  Naples, 
having  successively  made  peace,  the  princes  of  Italy  having 
been  destroyed,  France  having  surrounded  itself,  in  almost 
every  part  in  which  it  is  not  surrounded  by  the  sea,  with  revo- 
lutionary republics,  England  made  another  offer  of  a  different 
nature.  It  was  not  now  a  demand  that  France  should  restore 
anything.  Austria  having  made  a  peace  upon  her  own  terms, 
England  had  nothing  to  require  with  regard  to  her  allies,  she 
asked  no  restitution  of  the  dominions  added  to  France  in  Eu- 
rope. So  far  from  retaining  anything  French  out  of  Europe, 
we  freely  offered  them  all,  demanding  only,  as  a  poor  compen- 
sation, to  retain  a  part  of  what  we  had  acquired  by  arms  from 
Holland,  then  identified  with  France.  This  proposal  also,  sir, 
was  proudly  refused,  in  a  way  which  the  learned  gentleman 
himself  has  not  attempted  to  justify,  indeed  of  which  he  has 
spoken  with  detestation.  I  wish,  since  he  has  not  finally  ab- 
jured his  duty  in  this  House,  that  that  detestation  had  been 
stated  earlier ;  that  he  had  mixed  his  own  voice  with  the  gen- 
eral voice  of  his  country  on  the  result  of  that  negotiation. 

Let  us  look  at  the  conduct  of  France  immediately  subsequent 
to  this  period.  She  had  spurned  at  the  offers  of  Great  Britain  ; 
she  had  reduced  her  Continental  enemies  to  the  necessity  of  ac- 
cepting a  precarious  peace  ;   she  had  (in  spite  of  those  pledges 


24  PITT 

repeatedly  made  and  uniformly  violated)  surrounded  herself  by 
new  conquests  on  every  part  of  her  frontier  but  one.  That  one 
was  Switzerland.  The  first  effect  of  being  relieved  from  the 
war  with  Austria,  of  being  secured  against  all  fears  of  Con- 
tinental invasion  on  the  ancient  territory  of  France,  was  their 
unprovoked  attack  against  this  unoffending  and  devoted  coun- 
try. This  was  one  of  the  scenes  which  satisfied  even  those  who 
were  the  most  incredulous  that  France  had  thrown  off  the  mask, 
"  if  indeed  she  had  ever  worn  it."  It  collected,  in  one  view, 
many  of  the  characteristic  features  of  that  revolutionary  system 
which  I  have  endeavored  to  trace — the  perfidy  which  alone  ren- 
dered their  arms  successful — the  pretexts  of  which  they  availed 
themselves  to  produce  division  and  prepare  the  entrance  of 
Jacobinism  in  that  country — the  proposal  of  armistice,  one  of  the 
known  and  regular  engines  of  the  Revolution,  which  was,  as 
usual,  the  immediate  prelude  to  military  execution,  attended 
with  cruelty  and  barbarity,  of  which  there  are  few  examples. 
All  these  are  known  to  the  world.  The  country  they  attacked 
was  one  which  had  long  been  the  faithful  ally  of  France,  which, 
instead  of  giving  cause  of  jealousy  to  any  other  power,  had  been 
for  ages  proverbial  for  the  simplicity  and  innocence  of  its  man- 
ners, and  which  had  acquired  and  preserved  the  esteem  of  all 
the  nations  of  Europe ;  which  had  almost,  by  the  common  con- 
sent of  mankind,  been  exempted  from  the  sound  of  war,  and 
marked  out  as  a  land  of  Goshen,  safe  and  untouched  in  the 
midst  of  surrounding  calamities. 

Look,  then,  at  the  fate  of  Switzerland,  at  the  circumstances 
which  led  to  its  destruction.  Add  this  instance  to  the  catalogue 
of  aggression  against  all  Europe,  and  then  tell  me  whether  the 
system  I  have  described  has  not  been  prosecuted  with  an  unre- 
lenting spirit,  which  cannot  be  subdued  in  adversity,  which  can- 
not be  appeased  in  prosperity,  which  neither  solemn  professions, 
nor  the  general  law  of  nations,  nor  the  obligation  of  treaties 
(whether  previous  to  the  Revolution  or  subsequent  to  it)  could 
restrain  from  the  subversion  of  every  state  into  which,  either 
by  force  or  fraud,  their  arms  could  penetrate.  Then  tell  me, 
whether  the  disasters  of  Europe  are  to  be  charged  upon  the 
provocation  of  this  country  and  its  allies,  or  on  the  inherent 
principles  of  the  French  Revolution,  of  which  the  natural  result 
produced  so  much  misery  and  carnage  in  France,  and  carried 
desolation  and  terror  over  so  large  a  portion  of  the  world. 


HIS  REFUSAL  TO  NEGOTIATE  WITH  BONAPARTE  25 

Sir,  much  as  I  have  now  stated,  I  have  not  finished  the  cata- 
logue. America,  almost  as  much  as  Switzerland,  perhaps,  con- 
tributed to  that  change  which  has  taken  place  in  the  minds  of 
those  who  were  originally  partial  to  the  principles  of  the  French 
Government.  The  hostility  against  America  followed  a  long 
course  of  neutrality  adhered  to  under  the  strongest  provoca- 
tions, or  rather  of  repeated  compliances  to  France,  with  which 
we  might  well  have  been  dissatisfied.  It  was  on  the  face  of  it 
unjust  and  wanton ;  and  it  was  accompanied  by  those  instances 
of  sordid  corruption  which  shocked  and  disgusted  even  the 
enthusiastic  admirers  of  revolutionary  purity,  and  threw  a  new 
light  on  the  genius  of  revolutionary  government. 

After  this,  it  remains  only  shortly  to  remind  gentlemen  of  the 
aggression  against  Egypt,  not  o.  utting,  however,  to  notice  the 
capture  of  Malta  in  the  way  to  Egypt.  Inconsiderable  as  that 
island  may  be  thought,  compared  with  the  scenes  we  have  wit- 
nessed, let  it  be  remembered  that  it  is  an  island  of  which  the  gov- 
ernment had  long  been  recognized  by  every  state  of  Europe, 
against  which  France  pretended  no  cause  of  war,  and  whose 
independence  was  as  dear  to  itself  and  as  sacred  as  that  of  any 
country  in  Europe.  It  was  in  fact  not  unimportant,  from  its 
local  situation  to  the  other  powers  of  Europe ;  but  in  proportion 
as  any  man  may  diminish  its  importance,  the  instance  will  only 
serve  the  more  to  illustrate  and  confirm  the  proposition  which 
I  have  maintained.  The  all-searching  eye  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tion looks  to  every  part  of  Europe,  and  every  quarter  of  the 
world,  in  which  can  be  found  an  object  either  of  acquisition  or 
plunder.  Nothing  is  too  great  for  the  temerity  of  its  ambition, 
nothing  too  small  or  insignificant  for  the  grasp  of  its  rapacity. 
From  hence  Bonaparte  and  his  army  proceeded  to  Egypt.  The 
attack  was  made,  pretences  were  held  out  to  the  natives  of  that 
country  in  the  name  of  the  French  King,  whom  they  had  mur- 
dered. They  pretended  to  have  the  approbation  of  the  Grand 
Seignior,  whose  territories  they  were  violating;  their  project 
was  carried  on  under  the  profession  of  a  zeal  for  Mohammedan- 
ism ;  it  was  carried  on  by  proclaiming  that  France  had  been 
reconciled  to  the  Mussulman  faith,  had  abjured  that  of  Chris- 
tianity, or,  as  he  in  his  impious  language  termed  it,  of  the  sect 
of  the  Messiah. 

The  only  plea  which  they  have  since  held  out  to  color  this 


26  PITT 

atrocious  invasion  of  a  neutral  and  friendly  territory,  is  that  it 
was  the  road  to  attack  the  English  power  in  India.  It  is  most 
unquestionably  true  that  this  was  one  and  a  principal  cause  of 
this  unparalleled  outrage ;  but  another,  and  an  equally  sub- 
stantial, cause  (as  appears  by  their  own  statements)  was  the  di- 
vision and  partition  of  the  territories  of  what  they  thought  a 
falling  power.  It  is  impossible  to  dismiss  this  subject  without 
observing  that  this  attack  against  Egypt  was  accompanied  by 
an  attack  upon  the  British  possessions  in  India,  made  on  true 
revolutionary  principles.  In  Europe  the  propagation  of  the 
principles  of  France  had  uniformly  prepared  the  way  for  the 
progress  of  its  arms.  To  India  the  lovers  of  peace  had  sent  the 
messengers  of  Jacobinism,  for  the  purpose  of  inculcating  war 
in  those  distant  regions  on  Jacobin  principles,  and  of  forming 
Jacobin  clubs,  which  they  actually  succeeded  in  establishing; 
and  which  in  most  respects  resembled  the  European  model,  but 
which  were  distinguished  by  this  peculiarity,  that  they  were  re- 
quired to  swear  in  one  breath  hatred  to  tyranny,  the  love  of  lib- 
erty, and  the  destruction  of  all  kings  and  sovereigns,  except  the 
good  and  faithful  ally  of  the  French  Republic,  Citizen  Tippoo ! 
What,  then,  was  the  nature  of  this  system  ?  Was  it  anything 
but  what  I  have  stated  it  to  be  ?  an  insatiable  love  of  aggrandize- 
ment, an  implacable  spirit  of  destruction  against  all  the  civil  and 
religious  institutions  of  every  country?  This  is  the  first  mov- 
ing and  acting  spirit  of  the  French  Revolution  ;  this  is  the  spirit 
which  animated  it  at  its  birth,  and  this  is  the  spirit  which  will 
not  desert  it  till  the  moment  of  its  dissolution,  "  which  grew  with 
its  growth,  which  strengthened  with  its  strength,"  but  which 
has  not  abated  under  its  misfortunes,  nor  declined  in  its  decay. 
It  has  been  invariably  the  same  in  every  period,  operating  more 
or  less,  according  as  accident  or  circumstances  might  assist  it ; 
but  it  has  been  inherent  in  the  Revolution  in  all  its  stages  ;  it  has 
equally  belonged  to  Brissot,  to  Robespierre,  to  Tallien,  to  Reu- 
bel,  to  Barras,  and  to  every  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Directory, 
but  to  none  more  than  to  Bonaparte,  in  whom  now  all  their 
powers  are  united.  What  are  its  characters  ?  Can  it  be  accident 
that  produced  them?  No,  it  is  only  from  the  alliance  of  the 
most  horrid  principles,  with  the  most  horrid  means,  that  such 
miseries  could  have  been  brought  upon  Europe.  It  is  this 
paradox  which  we  must  always  keep  in  mind  when  we  are  dis- 


HIS  REFUSAL  TO  NEGOTIATE  WITH  BONAPARTE  27 

cussing  any  question  relative  to  the  effects  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tion. Groaning  under  every  degree  of  misery,  the  victim  of  its 
own  crimes,  and  as  I  once  before  expressed  in  this  House,  ask- 
ing pardon  of  God  and  of  man  for  the  miseries  which  it  has 
brought  upon  itself  and  others,  France  still  retains  (while  it  has 
neither  left  means  of  comfort  nor  almost  of  subsistence  to  its 
own  inhabitants)  new  and  unexampled  means  of  annoyance  and 
destruction  against  all  the  other  powers  of  Europe. 

Its  first  fundamental  principle  was  to  bribe  the  poor  against 
the  rich  by  proposing  to  transfer  into  new  hands,  on  the  delu- 
sive notion  of  equality,  and  in  breach  of  every  principle  of  jus- 
tice, the  whole  property  of  the  country.  The  practical  applica- 
tion of  this  principle  was  to  devote  the  whole  of  that  property  to 
indiscriminate  plunder,  and  to  make  it  the  foundation  of  a 
revolutionary  system  of  finance,  productive  in  proportion  to  the 
misery  and  desolation  which  it  created.  It  has  been  accom- 
panied by  an  unwearied  spirit  of  proselytism,  diffusing  itself 
over  all  the  nations  of  the  earth ;  a  spirit  which  can  apply  itself 
to  all  circumstances  and  all  situations,  which  can  furnish  a  list 
of  grievances  and  hold  out  a  promise  of  redress  equally  to  all 
nations ;  which  inspired  the  teachers  of  French  liberty  with  the 
hope  of  alike  recommending  themselves  to  those  who  live  under 
the  feudal  code  of  the  German  Empire ;  to  the  various  states  of 
Italy,  under  all  their  different  institutions ;  to  the  old  repub- 
licans of  Holland,  and  to  the  new  republicans  of  America  ;  to  the 
Catholic  of  Ireland,  whom  it  was  to  deliver  from  Protestant 
usurpation ;  to  the  Protestant  of  Switzerland,  whom  it  was  to 
deliver  from  popish  superstition ;  and  to  the  Mussulman  of 
Egypt,  whom  it  was  to  deliver  from  Christian  persecution ;  to 
the  remote  Indian,  blindly  bigoted  to  his  ancient  institutions ; 
and  to  the  natives  of  Great  Britain,  enjoying  the  perfection  of 
practical  freedom,  and  justly  attached  to  their  constitution,  from 
the  joint  result  of  habit,  of  reason,  and  of  experience.  The  last 
and  distinguishing  feature  is  a  perfidy  which  nothing  can  bind, 
which  no  tie  of  treaty,  no  sense  of  the  principles  generally  re- 
ceived among  nations,  no  obligation,  human  or  divine,  can 
restrain.  Thus  qualified,  thus  armed  for  destruction,  the  genius 
of  the  French  Revolution  marched  forth,  the  terror  and  dismay 
of  the  world.  Every  nation  has  in  its  turn  been  the  witness, 
many  have  been  the  victims  of  its  principles ;  and  it  is  left  for 


28  PITT 

us  to  decide  whether  we  will  compromise  with  such  a  danger, 
while  we  have  yet  resources  to  supply  the  sinews  of  war,  while 
the  heart  and  spirit  of  the  country  is  yet  unbroken,  and  while  we 
have  the  means  of  calling  forth  and  supporting  a  powerful  co- 
operation in  Europe. 

Much  more  might  be  said  on  this  part  of  the  subject ;  but  if 
what  I  have  said  already  is  a  faithful,  though  only  an  imperfect, 
sketch  of  those  excesses  and  outrages  which  even  history  itself 
will  hereafter  be  unable  fully  to  represent  and  record,  and  a  just 
representation  of  the  principle  and  source  from  which  they  origi- 
nated, will  any  man  say  that  we  ought  to  accept  a  precarious 
security  against  so  tremendous  a  danger  ?  Much  more — will  he 
pretend,  after  the  experience  of  all  that  has  passed  in  the  dif- 
ferent stages  of  the  French  Revolution,  that  we  ought  to  be 
deterred  from  probing  this  great  question  to  the  bottom,  and 
from  examining,  without  ceremony  or  disguise,  whether  the 
change  which  has  recently  taken  place  in  France  is  sufficient 
now  to  give  security,  not  against  a  common  danger,  but  against 
such  a  danger  as  that  which  I  have  described  ? 

In  examining  this  part  of  the  subject,  let  it  be  remembered 
that  there  is  one  other  characteristic  of  the  French  Revolution 
as  striking  as  its  dreadful  and  destructive  principles :  I  mean 
the  instability  of  its  government,  which  has  been  of  itself  suffi- 
cient to  destroy  all  reliance,  if  any  such  reliance  could  at  any 
time  have  been  placed  on  the  good  faith  of  any  of  its  rulers. 
Such  has  been  the  incredible  rapidity  with  which  the  revolutions 
in  France  have  succeeded  each  other  that  I  believe  the  names  of 
those  who  have  successively  exercised  absolute  power,  under 
the  pretence  of  liberty,  are  10  be  numbered  by  the  years  of  the 
Revolution,  and  by  each  of  the  new  constitutions,  which,  under 
the  same  pretence,  has  in  its  turn  been  imposed  by  force  on 
France,  all  of  which  alike  wer  founded  upon  principles  which 
professed  to  be  universal,  and  were  intended  to  be  established 
and  perpetuated  among  all  the  nations  of  the  earth.  Each  of 
these  will  be  found,  upon  an  average  to  have  had  about  two 
years  as  the  period  of  its  duration. 

Under  this  revolutionary  system,  accompanied  with  this  per- 
petual fluctuation  and  change,  both  ir.  the  form  of  the  govern- 
ment and  in  the  persons  of  the  rulers,  what  is  the  security  which 
has  hitherto  existed,  and  what  new  security  is  now  offered  ?    Be- 


HIS  REFUSAL  TO  NEGOTIATE  WITH  BONAPARTE  29 

fore  an  answer  is  given  to  this  question,  let  me  sum  up  the  his- 
tory of  all  the  revolutionary  governments  of  France,  and  of  their 
characters  in  relation  to  other  powers,  in  words  more  emphat- 
ical  than  any  which  I  could  use — the  memorable  words  pro- 
nounced, on  the  eve  of  this  last  constitution,  by  the  orator  who 
was  selected  to  report  to  an  Assembly,  surrounded  by  a  file  of 
grenadiers,  the  new  form  of  liberty  which  it  was  destined  to  en- 
joy under  the  auspices  of  General  Bonaparte.  From  this  repor- 
ter, the  mouth  and  organ  of  the  new  government,  we  learn  this 
important  lesson : 

"  It  is  easy  to  conceive  why  peace  was  not  concluded  before 
the  establishment  of  the  constitutional  government.  The  only 
government  which  then  existed  described  itself  as  revolution- 
ary; it  was,  in  fact,  only  the  tyranny  of  a  few  men  who  were 
soon  overthrown  by  others,  and  it  consequently  presented  no 
stability  of  principles  or  of  views,  no  security  either  with  re- 
spect to  men  or  with  respect  to  things. 

"  It  should  seem  that  that  stability  and  that  security  ought  to 
have  existed  from  the  establishment,  and  as  the  effect  of  the  con- 
stitutional system ;  and  yet  they  did  not  exist  more,  perhaps 
even  less,  than  they  had  done  before.  In  truth,  we  did  make 
some  partial  treaties  ;  we  signed  a  Continental  peace,  and  a  gen- 
eral congress  was  held  to  confirm  it ;  but  these  treaties,  these 
diplomatic  conferences,  appear  to  have  been  the  source  of  a  new 
war,  more  inveterate  and  more  bloody  than  before. 

"  Before  the  eighteenth  Fructidor  (fourth  September)  of 
the  fifth  year,  the  French  Government  exhibited  to  foreign  na- 
tions so  uncertain  an  existence  that  they  refused  to  treat  with  it. 
After  this  great  event,  the  whole  power  was  absorbed  in  the  Di- 
rectory ;  the  legislative  body  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  existed'; 
treaties  of  peace  were  broken,  and  war  carried  everywhere,  with- 
out that  body  having  any  share  in  those  measures.  The  same 
Directory,  after  having  intimidated  all  Europe,  and  destroyed, 
at  its  pleasure,  several  governments,  neither  knowing  how  to 
make  peace  or  war,  or  how  even  to  establish  itself,  was  over- 
turned by  a  breath,  on  the  thirteenth  Prairial  (eighteenth  June), 
to  make  room  for  other  men,  influenced  perhaps  by  different 
views,  or  who  might  be  governed  by  different  principles. 

"  Judging,  then,  only  from  notorious  facts,  the  French  Gov- 
ernment must  be  considered  as  exhibiting  nothing  fixed,  neither 
in  respect  to  men  nor  to  things." 


3o  PITT 

Here,  then,  is  the  picture,  down  to  the  period  of  the  last 
revolution,  of  the  s^ate  of  France  under  all  its  successive  gov- 
ernments ! 

Having  taken  a  view  of  what  it  was,  let  us  now  examine 
what  it  is.  In  the  first  place,  we  see,  as  has  been  truly  stated, 
a  change  in  the  description  and  form  of  the  sovereign  author- 
ity. A  supreme  power  is  placed  at  the  head  of  this  nominal 
republic,  with  a  more  open  avowal  of  military  despotism  than 
at  any  former  period ;  with  a  more  open  and  undisguised  aban- 
donment of  the  names  and  pretences  under  which  that  despot- 
ism long  attempted  to  conceal  itself.  The  different  institutions, 
republican  in  their  form  and  appearance,  which  were  before 
the  instruments  of  that  despotism,  are  now  annihilated ;  they 
have  given  way  to  the  absolute  power  of  one  man,  concentrat- 
ing in  himself  all  the  authority  of  the  state,  and  differing  from 
other  monarchs  only  in  this,  that  (as  my  honorable  friend  [Mr. 
Canning]  truly  stated  it)  he  wields  a  sword  instead  of  a  sceptre. 
What,  then,  is  the  confidence  we  are  to  derive  either  from  the 
frame  of  the  government,  or  from  the  character  and  past  con- 
duct of  the  person  who  is  now  the  absolute  ruler  of  France  ? 

Had  we  seen  a  man  of  whom  we  had  no  previous  knowledge 
suddenly  invested  with  the  sovereign  authority  of  the  country ; 
invested  with  the  power  of  taxation,  with  the  power  of  the 
sword,  the  power  of  war  and  peace,  the  unlimited  power  of 
commanding  the  resources,  of  disposing  of  the  lives  and  for- 
tunes, of  every  man  in  France ;  if  we  had  seen  at  the  same 
moment  all  the  inferior  machinery  of  the  Revolution,  which, 
under  the  variety  of  successive  shocks,  had  kept  the  system 
in  motion,  still  remaining  entire — all  that,  by  requisition  and 
plunder,  had  given  activity  to  the  revolutionary  system  of 
finance,  and  had  furnished  the  means  of  creating  an  army,  by 
converting  every  man  who  was  of  age  to  bear  arms  into  a 
soldier,  not  for  the  defence  of  his  own  country,  but  for  the 
sake  of  carrying  the  war  into  the  country  of  the  enemy ;  if  we 
had  seen  all  the  subordinate  instruments  of  Jacobin  power  sub- 
sisting in  their  full  force,  and  retaining  (to  use  the  French 
phrase)  all  their  original  organization;  and  had  then  observed 
this  single  change  in  the  conduct  of  their  affairs,  that  there 
was  now  one  man  with  no  rival  to  thwart  his  measures,  no  col- 
league to  divide  his  powers,  no  council  to  control  his  operations, 


HIS    REFUSAL   TO   NEGOTIATE  WITH    BONAPARTE     31 

no  liberty  of  speaking  or  writing,  no  expression  of  public  opin- 
ion to  check  or  influence  his  conduct ;  under  such  circum- 
stances, should  we  be  wrong  to  pause,  or  wait  for  the  evidence 
of  facts  and  experience,  before  we  consented  to  trust  our  safety 
to  the  forbearance  of  a  single  man,  in  such  a  situation,  and  to 
relinquish  those  means  of  defence  which  have  hitherto  carried 
us  safe  through  all  the  storms  of  the  Revolution,  if  we  were 
to  ask  what  are  the  principles  and  character  of  this  stranger,  to 
whom  fortune  has  suddenly  committed  the  concerns  of  a  great 
and  powerful  nation? 

But  is  this  the  actual  state  of  the  present  question?  Are  we 
talking  of  a  stranger  of  whom  we  have  heard  nothing?  No,  sir, 
we  have  heard  of  him ;  we,  and  Europe,  and  the  world,  have 
heard  both  of  him  and  of  the  satellites  by  whom  he  is  sur- 
rounded, and  it  is  impossible  to  discuss  fairly  the  propriety  of 
any  answer  which  could  be  returned  to  his  overtures  of  nego- 
tiation without  taking  into  consideration  the  inferences  to  be 
drawn  from  his  personal  character  and  conduct.  I  know  it  is 
the  fashion  with  some  gentlemen  to  represent  any  reference 
to  topics  of  this  nature  as  invidious  and  irritating;  but  the 
truth  is,  that  they  rise  unavoidably  out  of  the  very  nature  of 
the  question.  Would  it  have  been  possible  for  ministers  to 
discharge  their  duty,  in  offering  their  advice  to  their  sovereign, 
either  for  accepting  or  declining  negotiation,  without  taking 
into  their  account  the  reliance  to  be  placed  on  the  disposition 
and  the  principles  of  the  person  on  whose  disposition  and 
principles  the  security  to  be  obtained  by  treaty  must,  in  the 
present  circumstances,  principally  depend?  Or  would  they 
act  honestly  or  candidly  towards  Parliament  and  towards  the 
country  if,  having  been  guided  by  these  considerations,  they 
forbore  to  state,  publicly  and  distinctly,  the  real  grounds  which 
have  influenced  their  decision  ;  and  if,  from  a  false  delicacy  and 
groundless  timidity,  they  purposely  declined  an  examination 
of  a  point,  the  most  essential  towards  enabling  Parliament  to 
form  a  just  determination  on  so  important  a  subject? 

What  opinion,  then,  are  we  led  to  form  of  the  pretensions 
of  the  Consul  to  those  particular  qualities  for  which,  in  the 
official  note,  his  personal  character  is  represented  to  us  as  the 
surest  pledge  of  peace?  We  are  told  this  is  his  second  attempt 
at  general  pacification.    Let  us  see,  for  a  moment,  how  his  at- 


32  PITT 

tempt  has  been  conducted.  There  is,  indeed,  as  the  learned 
gentleman  has  said,  a  word  in  the  first  declaration  which  refers 
to  general  peace,  and  which  states  this  to  be  the  second  time  in 
which  the  Consul  has  endeavored  to  accomplish  that  object. 
We  thought  fit,  for  the  reasons  which  have  been  assigned,  to 
decline  altogether  the  proposal  of  treating,  under  the  present 
circumstances,  but  we,  at  the  same  time,  expressly  stated  that, 
whenever  the  moment  for  treaty  should  arrive,  we  would  in 
no  case  treat  but  in  conjunction  with  our  allies.  Our  general 
refusal  to  negotiate  at  the  present  moment  does  not  prevent 
the  Consul  from  renewing  his  overtures ;  but  are  they  renewed 
for  the  purpose  of  general  pacification  ?  Though  he  had  hinted 
at  general  peace  in  the  terms  of  his  first  note ;  though  we  had 
shown  by  our  answer  that  we  deemed  negotiation,  even  for 
general  peace,  at  this  moment  inadmissible ;  though  we  added 
that,  even  at  any  future  period,  we  would  treat  only  in  conjunc- 
tion with  our  allies,  what  was  the  proposal  contained  in  his 
last  note?  To  treat  for  a  separate  peace  between  Great  Britain 
and  France. 

Such  was  the  second  attempt  to  effect  general  pacification — 
a  proposal  for  a  separate  treaty  with  Great  Britain.  What  had 
been  the  first?  The  conclusion  of  a  separate  treaty  with  Aus- 
tria ;  and  there  are  two  anecdotes  connected  with  the  con- 
clusion of  this  treaty,  which  are  sufficient  to  illustrate  the  dis- 
position of  this  pacificator  of  Europe.  This  very  treaty  of 
Campo  Formio  was  ostentatiously  professed  to  be  concluded 
with  the  Emperor  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  Bonaparte  to 
take  the  command  of  the  army  of  England,  and  to  dictate  a 
separate  peace  with  this  country  on  the  banks  of  the  Thames. 
But  there  is  this  additional  circumstance,  singular  beyond  all 
conception,  considering  that  we  are  now  referred  to  the  treaty 
of  Campo  Formio  as  a  proof  of  the  personal  disposition  of  the 
Consul  to  general  peace.  He  sent  his  two  confidential  and 
chosen  friends,  Berthier  and  Monge,  charged  to  communicate 
to  the  Directory  this  treaty  of  Campo  Formio ;  to  announce  to 
them  that  one  enemy  was  humbled,  that  the  war  with  Austria 
was  terminated,  and,  therefore,  that  now  was  the  moment  to 
prosecute  their  operations  against  this  country;  they  used  on 
this  occasion  the  memorable  words :  "  The  kingdom  of  Great 
Britain  and  the  French  Republic  cannot  exist  together."    This, 


HIS  REFUSAL  TO  NEGOTIATE  WITH  BONAPARTE 


33 


I  say,  was  the  solemn  declaration  of  the  deputies  and  ambassa- 
dors of  Bonaparte  himself,  offering  to  the  Directory  the  first- 
fruits  of  this  first  attempt  at  general  pacification. 

So  much  for  his  disposition  towards  general  pacification. 
Let  us  look  next  at  the  part  he  has  taken  in  the  different  stages 
of  the  French  Revolution,  and  let  us  then  judge  whether  we 
are  to  look  to  him  as  the  security  against  revolutionary  prin- 
ciples. Let  us  determine  what  reliance  we  can  place  on  his 
engagements  with  other  countries,  when  we  see  how  he  has 
observed  his  engagements  to  his  own.  When  the  constitution 
of  the  third  year  was  established  under  Barras,  that  constitu- 
tion was  imposed  by  the  arms  of  Bonaparte,  then  commanding 
the  army  of  the  triumvirate  in  Paris.  To  that  constitution  he 
then  swore  fidelity.  How  often  he  has  repeated  the  same  oath, 
I  know  not,  but  twice,  at  least,  we  know  that  he  has  not  only 
repeated  it  himself,  but  tendered  it  to  others,  under  circum- 
stances too  striking  not  to  be  stated. 

Sir,  the  House  cannot  have  forgotten  the  Revolution  of  the 
fourth  of  September,  which  produced  the  dismissal  of  Lord 
Malmesbury  from  Lisle.  How  was  that  revolution  procured? 
It  was  procured  chiefly  by  the  promise  of  Bonaparte,  in  the 
name  of  his  army,  decidedly  to  support  the  Directory  in  those 
measures  which  led  to  the  infringement  and  violation  of  every- 
thing that  the  authors  of  the  constitution  of  1795,  or  its  ad- 
herents, could  consider  as  fundamental,  and  which  established 
a  system  of  despotism  inferior  only  to  that  now  realized  in  his 
own  person.  Immediately  before  this  event,  in  the  midst  of 
the  desolation  and  bloodshed  of  Italy  he  had  received  the 
sacred  present  of  new  banners  from  the  Directory ;  he  de- 
livered them  to  his  army  with  this  exhortation :  "  Let  us  swear, 
fellow-soldiers,  by  the  manes  of  the  patriots  who  have  died  by 
our  side,  eternal  hatred  to  the  enemies  of  the  constitution  of 
the  third  year  " — that  very  constitution  which  he  soon  after 
enabled  the  Directory  to  violate,  and  which  at  the  head  of  his 
grenadiers  he  has  now  finally  destroyed.  Sir,  that  oath  was 
again  renewed,  in  the  midst  of  that  very  scene  to  which  I  have 
last  referred ;  the  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  constitution  of  the 
third  year  was  administered  to  all  the  members  of  the  Assem- 
bly then  sitting,  under  the  terror  of  the  bayonet,  as  the  solemn 
preparation  for  the  business  of  the  day ;  and  the  morning  was 
Vol.  II.— 3 


34 


PITT 


ushered  in  with  swearing  attachment  to  the  constitution,  that 
the  evening  might  close  with  its  destruction. 

If  we  carry  our  views  out  of  France,  and  look  at  the  dreadful 
catalogue  of  all  the  breaches  of  treaty,  all  the  acts  of  perfidy  at 
which  I  have  only  glanced,  and  which  are  precisely  commen- 
surate with  the  number  of  treaties  which  the  Republic  has 
made  (for  I  have  sought  in  vain  for  any  one  which  it  has  made 
and  which  it  has  not  broken)  ;  if  we  trace  the  history  of  them 
all  from  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution  to  the  present  time, 
or  if  we  select  those  which  have  been  accompanied  by  the  most 
atrocious  cruelty,  and  marked  the  most  strongly  with  the  char- 
acteristic features  of  the  Revolution,  the  name  of  Bonaparte 
will  be  found  allied  to  more  of  them  than  that  of  any  other 
that  can  be  handed  down  in  the  history  of  the  crimes  and  mis- 
eries of  the  last  ten  years.  His  name  will  be  recorded  with  the 
horrors  committed  in  Italy,  in  the  memorable  campaign  of 
1796  and  1797,  in  the  Milanese,  in  Genoa,  in  Modena,  in  Tus- 
cany, in  Rome,  and  in  Venice. 

His  entrance  into  Lombardy  was  announced  by  a  solemn 
proclamation,  issued  on  April  27,  1796,  which  terminated  with 
these  words :  "  Nations  of  Italy !  the  French  army  is  come 
to  break  your  chains ;  the  French  are  the  friends  of  the  people 
in  every  country ;  your  religion,  your  property,  your  customs 
shall  be  respected."  This  was  followed  by  a  second  proclama- 
tion, dated  from  Milan,  twentieth  of  May,  and  signed  "  Bona- 
parte," in  these  terms :  "  Respect  for  property  and  personal  se- 
curity ;  respect  for  the  religion  of  countries — these  are  the 
sentiments  of  the  government  of  the  French  Republic  and  of 
the  army  of  Italy.  The  French,  victorious,  consider  the  nations 
of  Lombardy  as  their  brothers."  In  testimony  of  this  frater- 
nity, and  to  fulfil  the  solemn  pledge  of  respecting  property, 
this  very  proclamation  imposed  on  the  Milanese  a  provisional 
contribution  to  the  amount  of  twenty  millions  of  livres,  or  near 
one  million  sterling,  and  successive  exactions  were  afterwards 
levied  on  that  single  state  to  the  amount,  in  the  whole,  of  neat- 
six  millions  sterling.  The  regard  to  religion  and  to  the  cus- 
toms of  the  country  was  manifested  with  the  same  scrupulous 
fidelity.  The  churches  were  given  up  to  indiscriminate  plunder. 
Every  religious  and  charitable  fund,  every  public  treasure,  was 
confiscated.    The  country  was  made  the  scene  of  every  species 


HIS   REFUSAL   TO    NEGOTIATE  WITH    BONAPARTE     35 

of  disorder  and  rapine.  The  priests,  the  established  form  of 
worship,  all  the  objects  of  religious  reverence,  were  openly 
insulted  by  the  French  troops ;  at  Pavia,  particularly,  the  tomb 
of  St.  Augustin,  which  the  inhabitants  were  accustomed  to 
view  with  peculiar  veneration,  was  mutilated  and  defaced ; 
this  last  provocation  having  roused  the  resentment  of  the  peo- 
ple, they  flew  to  arms,  surrounded  the  French  garrison  and 
took  them  prisoners,  but  carefully  abstained  from  offering  any 
violence  to  a  single  soldier.  In  revenge  for  this  conduct, 
Bonaparte,  then  on  his  march  to  the  Mincio,  suddenly  returned, 
collected  his  troops,  and  carried  the  extremity  of  military 
execution  over  the  country.  He  burned  the  town  of  Benasco, 
and  massacred  eight  hundred  of  its  inhabitants ;  he  marched 
to  Pavia,  took  it  by  storm,  and  delivered  it  over  to  general 
plunder,  and  published,  at  the  same  moment,  a  proclamation  of 
the  twenty-sixth  of  May,  ordering  his  troops  to  shoot  all  those 
who  had  not  laid  down  their  arms  and  taken  an  oath  of  obedi- 
ence, and  to  burn  every  village  where  the  tocsin  should  be 
sounded,  and  to  put  its  inhabitants  to  death. 

The  transactions  with  Modena  were  on  a  smaller  scale,  but 
in  the  same  character.  Bonaparte  began  by  signing  a  treaty, 
by  which  the  Duke  of  Modena  was  to  pay  twelve  millions  of 
livres,  and  neutrality  was  promised  him  in  return ;  this  was 
soon  followed  by  the  personal  arrest  of  the  duke,  and  by  a 
fresh  extortion  of  two  hundred  thousand  sequins.  After  this 
he  was  permitted,  on  the  payment  of  a  farther  sum,  to  sign 
another  treaty,  called  a  convention  de  surctc,  which  of  course 
was  only  the  prelude  to  the  repetition  of  similar  exactions. 

Nearly  at  the  same  period,  in  violation  of  the  rights  of  neu- 
trality and  of  the  treaty  which  had  been  concluded  between  the 
French  Republic  and  the  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany  in  the  pre- 
ceding year,  and  in  breach  of  a  positive  promise  given  only  a 
few  days  before,  the  French  army  forcibly  took  possession  of 
Leghorn,  for  the  purpose  of  seizing  the  British  property  which 
was  deposited  there  and  confiscating  it  as  a  prize ;  and  shortly 
after,  when  Bonaparte  agreed  to  evacuate  Leghorn,  in  return 
for  the  evacuation  of  the  island  of  Elba,  which  was  in  posses- 
sion of  the  British  troops,  he  insisted  upon  a  separate  article, 
by  which,  in  addition  to  the  plunder  before  obtained,  by  the 
infraction  of  the  law  of  nations,  it  was  stipulated  that  the  Grand 


36  PITT 

Duke  should  pay  the  expense  which  the  French  had  incurred 
by  this  invasion  of  his  territory. 

In  the  proceedings  towards  Genoa  we  shall  find  out  only  a 
continuance  of  the  same  system  of  extortion  and  plunder,  in 
violation  of  the  solemn  pledge  contained  in  the  proclamations 
already  referred  to,  but  a  striking  instance  of  the  revolutionary 
means  employed  for  the  destruction  of  independent  govern- 
ments. A  French  minister  was  at  that  time  resident  at  Genoa, 
which  was  acknowledged  by  France  to  be  in  a  state  of  neutral- 
ity and  friendship ;  in  breach  of  this  neutrality  Bonaparte  be- 
gan, in  the  year  1796,  with  the  demand  of  a  loan.  He  after- 
wards, from  the  month  of  September,  required  and  enforced 
the  payment  of  a  monthly  subsidy,  to  the  amount  which  he 
thought  proper  to  stipulate.  These  exactions  were  accom- 
panied by  repeated  assurances  and  protestations  of  friendship; 
they  were  followed,  in  May,  1797,  by  a  conspiracy  against  the 
government,  fomented  by  the  emissaries  of  the  French  embassy, 
and  conducted  by  the  partisans  of  France,  encouraged  and  after- 
wards protected  by  the  French  minister.  The  conspirators  failed 
in  their  first  attempt.  Overpowered  by  the  courage  and  volun- 
tary exertions  of  the  inhabitants,  their  force  was  dispersed,  and 
man  of  their  number  were  arrested.  Bonaparte  instantly  con- 
sidered the  defeat  of  the  conspirators  as  an  act  of  aggression 
against  the  French  Republic ;  he  despatched  an  aide-de-camp 
with  an  order  to  the  Senate  of  this  independent  state ;  first,  to 
release  all  the  French  who  were  detained ;  secondly,  to  punish 
those  who  had  arrested  them ;  thirdly,  to  declare  that  they  had 
no  share  in  the  insurrection ;  and  fourthly,  to  disarm  the  peo- 
ple. Several  French  prisoners  were  immediately  released,  and 
a  proclamation  was  preparing  to  disarm  the  inhabitants,  when, 
by  a  second  note,  Bonaparte  required  the  arrest  of  the  three 
inquisitors  of  state,  and  immediate  alterations  in  the  constitu- 
tion. He  accompanied  this  with  an  order  to  the  French  min- 
ister to  quit  Genoa,  if  his  commands  were  not  immediately 
carried  into  execution  ;  at  the  same  moment  his  troops  entered 
the  territory  of  the  republic ;  and  shortly  after,  the  councils, 
intimidated  and  overpowered,  abdicated  their  functions.  Three 
deputies  were  then  sent  to  Bonaparte  to  receive  from  him  a 
new  constitution.  On  the  sixth  of  June,  after  the  conferences 
at  Montebello,  he  signed  a  convention,  or  rather  issued  a  decree, 


HIS  REFUSAL  TO  NEGOTIATE  WITH  BONAPARTE  37 

by  which  he  fixed  the  new  form  of  their  government ;  he  him- 
self named  provisionally  all  the  members  who  were  to  compose 
it,  and  he  required  the  payment  of  seven  millions  of  livres  as 
the  price  of  the  subversion  of  their  constitution  and  their  inde- 
pendence. These  transactions  require  but  one  short  comment. 
It  is  to  be  found  in  the  official  account  given  of  them  at  Paris ; 
which  is  in  these  memorable  words :  "  General  Bonaparte 
has  pursued  the  only  line  of  conduct  which  could  be  allowed 
in  the  representative  of  a  nation  which  has  supported  the  war 
only  to  procure  the  solemn  acknowledgment  of  the  right  of 
nations  to  change  the  form  of  their  government.  He  contrib- 
uted nothing  towards  the  revolution  of  Genoa,  but  he  seized 
the  first  moment  to  acknowledge  the  new  government,  as  soon 
as  he  saw  that  it  was  the  result  of  the  wishes  of  the  people." 

It  is  unnecessary  to  dwell  on  the  wanton  attacks  against 
Rome,  under  the  direction  of  Bonaparte  himself,  in  the  year 
1796,  and  in  the  beginning  of  1797,  which  terminated  first  by 
the  treaty  of  Tolentino  concluded  by  Bonaparte,  in  which,  by 
enormous  sacrifices,  the  Pope  was  allowed  to  purchase  the 
acknowledgment  of  his  authority  as  a  sovereign  prince ;  and 
secondly,  by  the  violation  of  that  very  treaty,  and  the  subver- 
sion of  the  papal  authority  by  Joseph  Bonaparte,  the  brother 
and  the  agent  of  the  general,  and  the  minister  of  the  French 
Republic  to  the  Holy  See.  A  transaction  accompanied  by  out- 
rages and  insults  towards  the  pious  and  venerable  pontiff,  in 
spite  of  the  sanctity  of  his  age  and  the  unsullied  purity  of  his 
character,  which  even  to  a  Protestant  seem  hardly  short  of  the 
guilt  of  sacrilege. 

But  of  all  the  disgusting  and  tragical  scenes  which  took  place 
in  Italy  in  the  course  of  the  period  I  am  describing,  those  which 
passed  at  Venice  are  perhaps  the  most  striking  and  the  most 
characteristic.  In  May  1796,  the  French  army,  under  Bona- 
parte, in  the  full  tide  of  its  success  against  the  Austrians,  first 
approached  the  territories  of  this  republic,  which  from  the  com- 
mencement of  the  war  had  observed  a  rigid  neutrality.  Their 
entrance  on  these  territories  was,  as  usual,  accompanied  by  a 
solemn  proclamation  in  the  name  of  their  general : 


38 


PITT 


BONAPARTE   TO   THE   REPUBLIC   OF   VENICE 


"  It  is  to  deliver  the  finest  country  in  Europe  from  the  iron  yoke  of 
the  proud  House  of  Austria,  that  the  French  army  has  braved  ob- 
stacles the  most  difficult  to  surmount.  Victory  in  union  with  justice 
has  crowned  its  efforts.  The  wreck  of  the  enemy's  army  has  retired 
behind  the  Mincio.  The  French  army,  in  order  to  follow  them,  passes 
over  the  territory  of  the  Republic  of  Venice;  but  it  will  never  forget 
that  ancient  friendship  unites  the  two  republics.  Religion,  govern- 
ment, customs,  and  property  shall  be  respected.  That  the  people  may 
be  without  apprehension,  the  most  severe  discipline  shall  be  main- 
tained. All  that  may  be  provided  for  the  army  shall  be  faithfully  paid 
for  in  money.  The  general-in-chief  engages  the  officers  of  the  Re- 
public of  Venice,  the  magistrates,  and  the  priests,  to  make  known  these 
sentiments  to  the  people,  in  order  that  confidence  may  cement  that 
friendship  which  has  so  long  united  the  two  nations.  Faithful  in  the 
path  of  honor  as  in  that  of  victory,  the  French  soldier  is  terrible  only 
to  the  enemies  of  his  liberty  and  his  government. 

"  Bonaparte." 

This  proclamation  was  followed  by  exactions  similar  to  those 
which  were  practised  against  Genoa,  by  the  renewal  of  similar 
professions  of  friendship,  and  the  use  of  similar  means  to  ex- 
cite insurrection.  At  length,  in  the  spring  of  1797,  occasion 
was  taken,  from  disturbances  thus  excited,  to  forge  in  the 
name  of  the  Venetian  government  a  proclamation  hostile  to 
France,  and  this  proceeding  was  made  the  ground  for  military 
execution  against  the  country,  and  for  effecting  by  force  the 
subversion  of  its  ancient  government  and  the  establishment 
of  the  democratic  forms  of  the  French  Revolution.  This  revo- 
lution was  sealed  by  a  treaty,  signed  in  May  1797,  between 
Bonaparte  and  commissioners  appointed  on  the  part  of  the 
new  and  revolutionary  government  of  Venice.  By  the  second 
and  third  secret  articles  of  this  treaty,  Venice  agreed  to  give  as 
a  ransom  to  secure  itself  against  all  further  exactions  or  de- 
mands, the  sum  of  three  millions  of  livres  in  money,  the  value 
of  three  millions  more  in  articles  of  naval  supply,  and  three 
ships  of  the  line ;  and  it  received  in  return  the  assurances  of 
the  friendship  and  support  of  the  French  Republic.  Imme- 
diately after  the  signature  of  this  treaty,  the  arsenal,  the  library, 
and  the  palace  of  St.  Mark  were  ransacked  and  plundered, 
and  heavy  additional  contributions  were  imposed  upon  its  in- 
habitants.   And,  in  not  more  than  four  months  afterwards,  this 


HIS  REFUSAL  TO  NEGOTIATE  WITH  BONAPARTE  39 

very  Republic  of  Venice,  united  by  alliance  to  France,  the 
creature  of  Bonaparte  himself,  from  whom  it  had  received  the 
present  of  French  liberty,  was  by  the  same  Bonaparte  trans- 
ferred, under  the  treaty  of  Campo  Formio,  to  "  that  iron  yoke 
of  the  proud  House  of  Austria,"  to  deliver  it  from  which  he 
had  represented  in  his  first  proclamation  to  be  the  great  object 
of  all  his  operations. 

Sir,  all  this  is  followed  by  the  memorable  expedition  into 
Egypt,  which  I  mention,  not  merely  because  it  forms  a  prin- 
cipal article  in  the  catalogue  of  those  acts  of  violence  and  per- 
fidy in  which  Bonaparte  has  been  engaged ;  not  merely  because 
it  was  an  enterprise  peculiarly  his  own,  of  which  he  was  him- 
self the  planner,  the  executor,  and  the  betrayer ;  but  chiefly  be- 
cause when  from  thence  he  retires  to  a  different  scene,  to  take 
possession  of  a  new  throne,  from  which  he  is  to  speak  upon  an 
equality  with  the  kings  and  governors  of  Europe,  he  leaves  be- 
hind him,  at  the  moment  of  his  departure,  a  specimen,  which 
cannot  be  mistaken,  of  his  principles  of  negotiation.  The  inter- 
cepted correspondence  which  has  been  alluded  to  in  this  de- 
bate seems  to  afford  the  strongest  ground  to  believe  that  his 
offers  to  the  Turkish  government  to  evacuate  Egypt  were  made 
solely  with  a  view  to  gain  time;  that  the  ratification  of  any 
treaty  on  this  subject  was  to  be  delayed  with  the  view  of  finally 
eluding  its  performance,  if  any  change  of  circumstances  favor- 
able to  the  French  should  occur  in  the  interval.  But  what- 
ever gentlemen  may  think  of  the  intention  with  which  these 
offers  were  made,  there  will  at  least  be  no  question  with  respect 
to  the  credit  due  to  those  professions  by  which  he  endeavored 
to  prove  in  Egypt  his  pacific  dispositions.  He  expressly  en- 
joins his  successor  strongly  and  steadily  to  insist,  in  all  his 
intercourse  with  the  Turks,  that  he  came  to  Egypt  with  no 
hostile  design,  and  that  he  never  meant  to  keep  possession  of 
the  country ;  while,  on  the  opposite  page  of  the  same  instruc- 
tions, he  states  in  the  most  unequivocal  manner  his  regret  at 
the  discomfiture  of  his  favorite  project  of  colonizing  Egypt 
and  of  maintaining  it  as  a  territorial  acquisition.  Now,  sir, 
if  in  any  note  addressed  to  the  Grand  Vizier  or  the  Sultan 
Bonaparte  had  claimed  credit  for  the  sincerity  of  his  profes- 
sions, that  he  came  to  Egypt  with  no  view  hostile  to  Turkey, 
and  solely  for  the  purpose  of  molesting  the  British  interests,  is 


4o  PITT 

there  any  one  argument  now  used  to  induce  us  to  believe  his 
present  professions  to  us,  which  might  not  have  been  equally 
urged  on  that  occasion?  Would  not  those  professions  have 
been  equally  supported  by  solemn  asseveration,  by  the  same 
reference  which  is  now  made  to  personal  character,  with  this 
single  difference,  that  they  would  have  then  had  one  instance 
less  of  hypocrisy  and  falsehood,  which  we  have  since  had 
occasion  to  trace  in  this  very  transaction? 

It  is  unnecessary  to  say  more  with  respect  to  the  credit  due 
to  his  professions,  or  the  reliance  to  be  placed  on  his  general 
character.  But  it  will,  perhaps,  be  argued  that  whatever  may 
be  his  character,  or  whatever  has  been  his  past  conduct,  he 
has  now  an  interest  in  making  and  observing  peace.  That  he 
has  an  interest  in  making  peace  is  at  best  but  a  doubtful  propo- 
sition, and  that  he  has  an  interest  in  preserving  it  is  still  more 
uncertain.  That  it  is  his  interest  to  negotiate,  I  do  not  indeed 
deny.  It  is  his  interest,  above  all,  to  engage  this  country  in 
separate  negotiation,  in  order  to  loosen  and  dissolve  the  whole 
system  of  the  confederacy  on  the  Continent,  to  palsy  at  once 
the  arms  of  Russia,  or  of  Austria,  or  of  any  other  country  that 
might  look  to  you  for  support ;  and  then  either  to  break  off  his 
separate  treaty,  or,  if  he  should  have  concluded  it,  to  apply  the 
lesson  which  is  taught  in  his  school  of  policy  in  Egypt,  and  to 
revive  at  his  pleasure  those  claims  of  indemnification  which 
may  have  been  reserved  to  some  happier  period. 

This  is  precisely  the  interest  which  he  has  in  negotiation. 
But  on  what  grounds  are  we  to  be  convinced  that  he  has  an 
interest  in  concluding  and  observing  a  solid  and  permanent 
pacification?  Under  all  the  circumstances  of  his  personal 
character,  and  his  newly  acquired  power,  what  other  security 
has  he  for  retaining  that  power  but  the  sword  ?  His  hold  upon 
France  is  the  sword,  and  he  has  no  other.  Is  he  connected 
with  the  soil,  or  with  the  habits,  the  affections,  or  the  prej- 
udices of  the  country?  He  is  a  stranger,  a  foreigner,  and  a 
usurper.  He  unites  in  his  own  person  everything  that  a  pure 
republican  must  detest ;  everything  that  an  enraged  Jacobin 
has  abjured ;  everything  that  a  sincere  and  faithful  royalist 
must  feel  as  an  insult.  If  he  is  opposed  at  any  time  in  his 
career,  what  is  his  appeal  ?  He  appeals  to  his  fortune ;  in 
other  words,  to  his  army  and  his  sword.     Placing,  then,  his 


HIS  REFUSAL  TO  NEGOTIATE  WITH  BONAPARTE  41 

whole  reliance  upon  military  support,  can  he  afford  to  let  his 
military  renown  pass  away,  to  let  his  laurels  wither,  to  let  the 
memory  of  his  trophies  sink  in  obscurity?  Is  it  certain  that 
with  his  army  confined  within  France,  and  restrained  from 
inroads  upon  her  neighbors,  that  he  can  maintain,  at  his  de- 
votion, a  force  sufficiently  numerous  to  support  his  power? 
Having  no  object  but  the  possession  of  absolute  dominion,  no 
passion  but  military  glory,  is  it  to  be  reckoned  as  certain  that 
he  can  feel  such  an  interest  in  permanent  peace  as  would  justify 
us  in  laying  down  our  arms,  reducing  our  expense,  and  re- 
linquishing our  means  of  security,  on  the  faith  of  his  engage- 
ments? Do  we  believe  that,  after  the  conclusion  of  peace,  he 
would  not  still  sigh  over  the  lost  trophies  of  Egypt,  wrested 
from  him  by  the  celebrated  victory  of  Aboukir,  and  the  brilliant 
exertions  of  that  heroic  band  of  British  seamen,  whose  in- 
fluence and  example  rendered  the  Turkish  troops  invincible  at 
Acre?  Can  he  forget  that  the  effect  of  these  exploits  enabled 
Austria  and  Prussia,  in  one  campaign,  to  recover  from  France 
all  which  she  had  acquired  by  his  victories,  to  dissolve  the 
charm  which  for  a  time  fascinated  Europe,  and  to  show  that 
their  generals,  contending  in  a  just  cause,  could  efface,  even  by 
their  success  and  their  military  glory,  the  most  dazzling  tri- 
umphs of  his  victorious  and  desolating  ambition? 

Can  we  believe,  with  these  impressions  on  his  mind,  that  if, 
after  a  year,  eighteen  months,  or  two  years  of  peace  had 
elapsed,  he  should  be  tempted  by  the  appearance  of  fresh  in- 
surrection in  Ireland,  encouraged  by  renewed  and  unrestrained 
communication  with  France,  and  fomented  by  the  fresh  infusion 
of  Jacobin  principles ;  if  we  were  at  such  a  moment  without  a 
fleet  to  watch  the  ports  of  France,  or  to  guard  the  coasts  of 
Ireland,  without  a  disposable  army,  or  an  embodied  militia 
capable  of  supplying  a  speedy  and  adequate  reenforcement, 
and  that  he  had  suddenly  the  means  of  transporting  thither 
a  body  of  twenty  or  thirty  thousand  French  troops ;  can  we 
believe  that,  at  such  a  moment,  his  ambition  and  vindictive 
spirit  would  be  restrained  by  the  recollection  of  engagements 
or  the  obligation  of  treaty?  Or  if,  in  some  new  crisis  of 
difficulty  and  danger  to  the  Ottoman  Empire,  with  no  British 
navy  in  the  Mediterranean,  no  confederacy  formed,  no  force 
collected  to  support  it,  an  opportunity  should  present  itself 


42  PITT 

for  resuming  the  abandoned  expedition  to  Egypt,  for  renew- 
ing the  avowed  and  favorite  project  of  conquering  and  colon- 
izing that  rich  and  fertile  country,  and  of  opening  the  way 
to  wound  some  of  the  vital  interests  of  England,  and  to  plun- 
der the  treasures  of  the  East,  in  order  to  fill  the  bankrupt 
coffers  of  France — would  it  be  the  interest  of  Bonaparte,  under 
such  circumstances,  or  his  principles,  his  moderation,  his  love 
of  peace,  his  aversion  to  conquest,  and  his  regard  for  the  in- 
dependence of  other  nations — would  it  be  all  or  any  of  these 
that  would  secure  us  against  an  attempt  which  would  leave  us 
only  the  option  of  submitting  without  a  struggle  to  certain  loss 
and  disgrace,  or  of  renewing  the  contest  which  we  had  pre- 
maturely terminated,  without  allies,  without  preparation,  with 
diminished  means,  and  with  increased  difficulty  and  hazard? 

Hitherto  I  have  spoken  only  of  the  reliance  which  we  can 
place  on  the  professions,  the  character,  and  the  conduct  of  the 
present  First  Consul ;  but  it  remains  to  consider  the  stability 
of  his  power.  The  Revolution  has  been  marked  throughout  by 
a  rapid  succession  of  new  depositaries  of  public  authority,  each 
supplanting  its  predecessor.  What  grounds  have  we  to  be- 
lieve that  this  new  usurpation,  more  odious  and  more  undis- 
guised than  all  that  preceded  it,  will  be  more  durable  ?  Is  it  that 
we  rely  on  the  particular  provisions  contained  in  the  code  of 
the  pretended  constitution,  which  was  proclaimed  as  accepted 
by  the  French  people  as  soon  as  the  garrison  of  Paris  declared 
their  determination  to  exterminate  all  its  enemies,  and  before 
any  of  its  articles  could  even  be  known  to  half  the  country, 
whose  consent  was  required  for  its  establishment  ? 

I  will  not  pretend  to  inquire  deeply  into  the  nature  and  effects 
of  a  constitution  which  can  hardly  be  regarded  but  as  a  farce 
and  a  mockery.  If,  however,  it  could  be  supposed  that  its 
provisions  were  to  have  any  effect,  it  seems  equally  adapted  to 
two  purposes :  that  of  giving  to  its  founder,  for  a  time,  an 
absolute  and  uncontrolled  authority  ;  and  that  of  laying  the  cer- 
tain foundation  of  disunion  and  discord,  which,  if  they  once 
prevail,  must  render  the  exercise  of  all  the  authority  under 
the  constitution  impossible,  and  leave  no  appeal  but  to  the 
sword. 

Is,  then,  military  despotism  that  which  we  are  accustomed 
to  consider  as  a  stable  form  of  government?     In  all  ages  ot 


HIS  REFUSAL  TO  NEGOTIATE  WITH  BONAPARTE 


43 


the  world  it  has  been  attended  with  the  least  stability  to  the 
persons  who  exercised  it,  and  with  the  most  rapid  succession 
of  changes  and  revolution.  In  the  outset  of  the  French 
Revolution  its  advocates  boasted  that  it  furnished  a  security 
forever,  not  to  France  only,  but  to  all  countries  in  the  world, 
against  military  despotism ;  that  the  force  of  standing  armies 
was  vain  and  delusive ;  that  no  artificial  power  could  resist 
public  opinion ;  and  that  it  was  upon  the  foundation  of  pub- 
lic opinion  alone  that  any  government  could  stand.  I  be- 
lieve that  in  this  instance,  as  in  every  other,  the  progress  of 
the  French  Revolution  has  belied  its  professions ;  but,  so 
far  from  its  being  a  proof  of  the  prevalence  of  public  opinion 
against  military  force,  it  is  instead  of  the  proof,  the  strongest 
exception  from  that  doctrine  which  appears  in  the  history 
of  the  world.  Through  all  the  stages  of  the  Revolution  mili- 
tary force  has  governed,  and  public  opinion  has  scarcely  been 
heard.  But  still  I  consider  this  as  only  an  exception  from 
a  general  truth.  I  still  believe  that  in  every  civilized  coun- 
try, not  enslaved  by  a  Jacobin  faction,  public  opinion  is  the 
only  sure  support  of  any  government.  I  believe  this  with  the 
more  satisfaction,  from  a  conviction  that,  if  this  contest  is 
happily  terminated,  the  established  governments  of  Europe 
will  stand  upon  that  rock  firmer  than  ever ;  and,  whatever  may 
be  the  defects  of  any  particular  constitution,  those  who  live 
under  it  will  prefer  its  continuance  to  the  experiment  of  changes 
which  may  plunge  them  in  the  unfathomable  abyss  of  revolu- 
tion, or  extricate  them  from  it  only  to  expose  them  to  the 
terrors  of  military  despotism.  And  to  apply  this  to  France, 
I  see  no  reason  to  believe  that  the  present  usurpation  will  be 
more  permanent  than  any  other  military  despotism  which  has 
been  established  by  the  same  means,  and  with  the  same  de- 
fiance of  public  opinion. 

What,  then,  is  the  inference  I  draw  from  all  that  I  have  now 
stated?  Is  it  that  we  will  in  no  case  treat  with  Bonaparte?  I 
say  no  such  thing.  But  I  say,  as  has  been  said  in  the  answer 
returned  to  the  French  note,  that  we  ought  to  wait  for  "  experi- 
ence and  the  evidence  of  facts  "  before  we  are  convinced  that 
such  a  treaty  is  admissible.  The  circumstances  I  have  stated 
would  well  justify  us  if  we  should  be  slow  in  being  convinced  ; 
but  on  a  question  of  peace  and  war,  everything  depends  upon 


44  PITT 

degree  and  upon  comparison.  If,  on  the  one  hand,  there  should 
be  an  appearance  that  the  policy  of  France  is  at  length  guided 
by  different  maxims  from  those  which  have  hitherto  prevailed ; 
if  we  should  hereafter  see  signs  of  stability  in  the  government 
which  are  not  now  to  be  traced ;  if  the  progress  of  the  allied 
army  should  not  call  forth  such  a  spirit  in  France  as  to  make 
it  probable  that  the  act  of  the  country  itself  will  destroy  the 
system  now  prevailing;  if  the  danger,  the  difficulty,  the  risk 
of  continuing  the  contest  should  increase,  while  the  hope  of 
complete  ultimate  success  should  be  diminished ;  all  these,  in 
their  due  place,  are  considerations  which,  with  myself  and,  I 
can  answer  for  it,  with  every  one  of  my  colleagues,  will  have 
their  just  weight.  But  at  present  these  considerations  all  oper- 
ate one  way ;  at  present  there  is  nothing  from  which  we  can 
presage  a  favorable  disposition  to  change  in  the  French  coun- 
cils. There  is  the  greatest  reason  to  rely  on  powerful  co- 
operation from  our  allies ;  there  are  the  strongest  marks  of  a 
disposition  in  the  interior  of  France  to  active  resistance  against 
this  new  tyranny ;  and  there  is  every  ground  to  believe,  on 
reviewing  our  situation  and  that  of  the  enemy,  that,  if  we  are 
ultimately  disappointed  of  that  complete  success  which  we 
are  at  present  entitled  to  hope,  the  continuance  of  the  contest, 
instead  of  making  our  situation  comparatively  worse,  will  have 
made  it  comparatively  better. 

If,  then,  I  am  asked  how  long  are  we  to  persevere  in  the 
war,  I  can  only  say  that  no  period  can  be  accurately  assigned. 
Considering  the  importance  of  obtaining  complete  security  for 
the  objects  for  which  we  contend,  we  ought  not  to  be  dis- 
couraged too  soon ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  considering  the  im- 
portance of  not  impairing  and  exhausting  the  radical  strength 
of  the  country,  there  are  limits  beyond  which  we  ought  not  to 
persist,  and  which  we  can  determine  only  by  estimating  and 
comparing  fairly,  from  time  to  time,  the  degree  of  security  to 
be  obtained  by  treaty,  and  the  risk  and  disadvantage  of  con- 
tinuing the  contest. 

But,  sir,  there  are  some  gentlemen  in  the  House  who  seem 
to  consider  it  already  certain  that  the  ultimate  success  to  which 
I  am  looking  is  unattainable.  They  suppose  us  contending  only 
for  the  restoration  of  the  French  monarchy,  which  they  believe 
to  be  impracticable,  and  deny  to  be  desirable  for  this  country. 


HIS  REFUSAL  TO  NEGOTIATE  WITH  BONAPARTE  45 

We  have  been  asked  in  the  course  of  this  debate :  Do  you  think 
you  can  impose  monarchy  upon  France,  against  the  will  of  the 
nation?  I  never  thought  it,  I  never  hoped  it,  I  never  wished 
it.  I  have  thought,  I  have  hoped,  I  have  wished,  that  the  time 
might  come  when  the  effect  of  the  arms  of  the  allies  might  so 
far  overpower  the  military  force  which  keeps  France  in  bond- 
age, as  to  give  vent  and  scope  to  the  thoughts  and  actions  of 
its  inhabitants.  We  have,  indeed,  already  seen  abundant  proof 
of  what  is  the  disposition  of  a  large  part  of  the  country ;  we 
have  seen  almost  through  the  whole  of  the  Revolution  the 
western  provinces  of  France  deluged  with  the  blood  of  their 
inhabitants  obstinately  contending  for  their  ancient  laws  and 
religion.  We  have  recently  seen,  in  the  revival  of  that  war, 
fresh  proof  of  the  zeal  which  still  animates  those  countries  in 
the  same  cause.  These  efforts  (I  state  it  distinctly,  and  there 
are  those  near  me  who  can  bear  witness  to  the  truth  of  the 
assertion)  were  not  produced  by  any  instigation  from  hence; 
they  were  the  effects  of  a  rooted  sentiment  prevailing  through 
all  those  provinces  forced  into  action  by  the  "  law  of  the  host- 
ages "  and  the  other  tyrannical  measures  of  the  Directory,  at  the 
moment  when  we  were  endeavoring  to  discourage  so  hazardous 
an  enterprise.  If,  under  such  circumstances,  we  find  them  giv- 
ing proofs  of  their  unalterable  perseverance  in  their  principles ; 
if  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  same  disposition 
prevails  in  many  other  extensive  provinces  of  France ;  if  every 
party  appears  at  length  equally  wearied  and  disappointed  with 
all  the  successive  changes  which  the  Revolution  has  produced ; 
if  the  question  is  no  longer  between  monarchy,  and  even  the 
pretence  and  name  of  liberty,  but  between  the  ancient  line  of 
hereditary  princes  on  the  one  hand,  and  a  military  tyrant,  a 
foreign  usurper,  on  the  other ;  if  the  armies  of  that  usurper 
are  likely  to  find  sufficient  occupation  on  the  frontiers,  and  to 
be  forced  at  length  to  leave  the  interior  of  the  country  at  liberty 
to  manifest  its  real  feeling  and  disposition ;  what  reason  have 
we  to  anticipate,  that  the  restoration  of  monarchy  under  such 
circumstances  is  impracticable? 

The  learned  gentleman  has,  indeed,  told  us  that  almost  every 
man  now  possessed  of  property  in  France  must  necessarily  be 
interested  in  resisting  such  a  change,  and  that  therefore  it 
never  can  be  effected.     If  that  single  consideration  were  con- 


46  PITT 

elusive  against  the  possibility  of  a  change,  for  the  same  reason 
the  Revolution  itself,  by  which  the  whole  property  of  the  coun- 
try was  taken  from  its  ancient  possessors,  could  never  have 
taken  place.  But  though  I  deny  it  to  be  an  insuperable  ob- 
stacle, I  admit  it  to  be  a  point  of  considerable  delicacy  and 
difficulty.  It  is  not,  indeed,  for  us  to  discuss  minutely  what  ar- 
rangement might  be  formed  on  this  point  to  conciliate  and  unite 
opposite  interests.  But  whoever  considers  the  precarious  tenure 
and  depreciated  value  of  lands  held  under  the  revolutionary 
title,  and  the  low  price  for  which  they  have  generally  been  ob- 
tained, will  think  it,  perhaps,  not  impossible  that  an  ample 
compensation  might  be  made  to  the  bulk  of  the  present  pos- 
sessors, both  for  the  purchase-money  they  have  paid  and  for  the 
actual  value  of  what  they  now  enjoy ;  and  that  the  ancient 
proprietors  might  be  reinstated  in  the  possession  of  their  former 
rights,  with  only  such  a  temporary  sacrifice  as  reasonable  men 
would  willingly  make  to  obtain  so  essential  an  object. 

The  honorable  and  learned  gentleman,  however,  has  sup- 
ported his  reasoning  on  this  part  of  the  subject,  by  an  argu- 
ment which  he  undoubtedly  considers  as  unanswerable — a  ref- 
erence to  what  would  be  his  own  conduct  in  similar  circum- 
stances ;  and  he  tells  us  that  every  landed  proprietor  in  France 
must  support  the  present  order  of  things  in  that  country  from 
the  same  motive  that  he  and  every  proprietor  of  three  per  cent, 
stock  would  join  in  the  defence  of  the  constitution  of  Great 
Britain.  I  must  do  the  learned  gentleman  the  justice  to  be- 
lieve that  the  habits  of  his  profession  must  supply  him  with 
better  and  nobler  motives  for  defending  a  constitution  which 
he  has  had  so  much  occasion  to  study  and  examine,  than  any  he 
can  derive  from  the  value  of  his  proportion,  however  large,  of 
three  per  cents,  even  supposing  them  to  continue  to  increase  in 
price  as  rapidly  as  they  have  done  during  the  last  three  years, 
in  which  the  security  and  prosperity  of  the  country  has  been 
established  by  following  a  system  directly  opposite  to  the  coun- 
sels of  the  learned  gentleman  and  his  friends. 

The  learned  gentleman's  illustration,  however,  though  it  fails 
with  respect  to  himself,  is  happily  and  aptly  applied  to  the  state 
of  France ;  and  let  us  see  what  inference  it  furnishes  with  re- 
spect to  the  probable  attachment  of  moneyed  men  to  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  revolutionary  system,  as  well  as  with  respect  to 


HIS  REFUSAL  TO  NEGOTIATE  WITH  BONAPARTE   47 

the  general  state  of  public  credit  in  that  country.  I  do  not, 
indeed,  know  that  there  exists  precisely  any  fund  of  three  per 
cents  in  France,  to  furnish  a  test  for  the  patriotism  and  public 
spirit  of  the  lovers  of  French  liberty.  But  there  is  another 
fund  which  may  equally  answer  our  purpose.  The  capital  of 
three  per  cent,  stock  which  formerly  existed  in  France  has  un- 
dergone a  whimsical  operation,  similar  to  many  other  expedi- 
ents of  finance  which  we  have  seen  in  the  course  of  the  Revolu- 
tion. This  was  performed  by  a  decree  which,  as  they  termed 
it,  republicanized  their  debt ;  that  is,  in  other  words,  struck  off 
at  once  two-thirds  of  the  capital,  and  left  the  proprietors  to 
take  their  chance  for  the  payment  of  interest  on  the  remainder. 
This  remnant  was  afterward  converted  into  the  present  five  per 
cent,  stock.  I  had  the  curiosity  very  lately  to  inquire  what 
price  it  bore  in  the  market,  and  I  was  told  that  the  price  had 
somewhat  risen  from  confidence  in  the  new  government,  and 
was  actually  as  high  as  seventeen.  I  really  at  first  supposed 
that  my  informer  meant  seventeen  years'  purchase  for  every 
pound  of  interest,  and  I  began  to  be  almost  jealous  of  revolu- 
tionary credit ;  but  I  soon  found  that  he  literally  meant  seven- 
teen pounds  for  every  hundred  pounds  capital  stock  of  five  per 
cent.,  that  is  a  little  more  than  three  and  a  half  years'  purchase. 
So  much  for  the  value  of  revolutionary  property,  and  for  the 
attachment  with  which  it  must  inspire  its  possessors  towards 
the  system  of  government  to  which  that  value  is  to  be  ascribed  ! 
On  the  question,  sir,  how  far  the  restoration  of  the  French 
monarchy,  if  practicable,  is  desirable,  I  shall  not  think  it  neces- 
sary to  say  much.  Can  it  be  supposed  to  be  indifferent  to  us 
or  to  the  world,  whether  the  throne  of  France  is  to  be  filled  by 
a  prince  of  the  House  of  Bourbon,  or  by  him  whose  principles 
and  conduct  I  have  endeavored  to  develop  ?  Is  it  nothing,  with 
a  view  to  influence  and  example,  whether  the  fortune  of  this 
last  adventurer  in  the  lottery  of  revolutions  shall  appear  to  be 
permanent  ?  Is  it  nothing  whether  a  system  shall  be  sanctioned 
which  confirms,  by  one  of  its  fundamental  articles,  that  general 
transfer  of  property  from  its  ancient  and  lawful  possessors, 
which  holds  out  one  of  the  most  terrible  examples  of  national 
injustice,  and  which  has  furnished  the  great  source  of  revolu- 
tionary finance  and  revolutionary  strength  against  all  the  pow- 
ers of  Europe? 


48  PITT 

In  the  exhausted  and  impoverished  state  of  France,  it  seems 
for  a  time  impossible  that  any  system  but  that  of  robbery  and 
confiscation,  anything  but  the  continued  torture,  which  can 
be  applied  only  by  the  engines  of  the  Revolution,  can  extort 
from  its  ruined  inhabitants  more  than  the  means  of  supporting 
in  peace  the  yearly  expenditure  of  its  government.  Suppose, 
then,  the  heir  of  the  House  of  Bourbon  reinstated  on  the  throne, 
he  will  have  sufficient  occupation  in  endeavoring,  if  possible, 
to  heal  the  wounds,  and  gradually  to  repair  the  losses  of  ten 
years  of  civil  convulsion ;  to  reanimate  the  drooping  commerce, 
to  rekindle  the  industry,  to  replace  the  capital,  and  to  revive 
the  manufactures  of  the  country.  Under  such  circumstances, 
there  must  probably  be  a  considerable  interval  before  such  a 
monarch,  whatever  may  be  his  views,  can  possess  the  power 
which  can  make  him  formidable  to  Europe ;  but  while  the  sys- 
tem of  the  Revolution  continues,  the  case  is  quite  different. 
It  is  true,  indeed,  that  even  the  gigantic  and  unnatural  means 
by  which  that  revolution  has  been  supported  are  so  far  im- 
paired ;  the  influence  of  its  principles  and  the  terror  of  its 
arms  so  far  weakened ;  and  its  power  of  action  so  much  con- 
tracted and  circumscribed,  that  against  the  embodied  force  of 
Europe,  prosecuting  a  vigorous  war,  we  may  justly  hope  that 
the  remnant  and  wreck  of  this  system  cannot  long  oppose  an 
effectual  resistance. 

But,  supposing  the  confederacy  of  Europe  prematurely  dis- 
solved ;  supposing  our  armies  disbanded,  our  fleets  laid  up 
in  our  harbors,  our  exertions  relaxed,  and  our  means  of  pre- 
caution and  defence  relinquished ;  do  we  believe  that  the 
revolutionary  power,  with  this  rest  and  breathing-time  given 
it  to  recover  from  the  pressure  under  which  it  is  now  sinking, 
possessing  still  the  means  of  calling  suddenly  and  violently  into 
action  whatever  is  the  remaining  physical  force  of  France, 
under  the  guidance  of  military  despotism ;  do  we  believe  that 
this  revolutionary  power,  the  terror  of  which  is  now  beginning 
to  vanish,  will  not  again  prove  formidable  to  Europe.  Can  we 
forget  that  in  the  ten  years  in  which  that  power  has  subsisted, 
it  has  brought  more  misery  on  surrounding  nations,  and  pro- 
duced more  acts  of  aggression,  cruelty,  perfidy,  and  enormous 
ambition  than  can  be  traced  in  the  history  of  France  for  the 
centuries  which  have  elapsed  since  the  foundation  of  its  mon- 


HIS    REFUSAL   TO    NEGOTIATE  WITH    BONAPARTE     49 

archy,  including  all  the  wars  which,  in  the  course  of  that  period, 
have  been  waged  by  any  of  those  sovereigns,  whose  projects 
of  aggrandizement  and  violations  of  treaty  afford  a  constant 
theme  of  general  reproach  against  the  ancient  government  of 
France?  And  if  not,  can  we  hesitate  whether  we  have  the  best 
prospect  of  permanent  peace,  the  best  security  for  the  inde- 
pendence and  safety  of  Europe,  from  the  restoration  of  the  law- 
ful government,  or  from  the  continuance  of  revolutionary  power 
in  the  hands  of  Bonaparte  ? 

In  compromise  and  treaty  with  such  a  power  placed  in  such 
hands  as  now  exercise  it,  and  retaining  the  same  means  of  an- 
noyance which  it  now  possesses,  I  see  little  hope  of  permanent 
security.  I  see  no  possibility  at  this  moment  of  such  a  peace 
as  would  justify  that  liberal  intercourse  which  is  the  essence 
of  real  amity ;  no  chance  of  terminating  the  expenses  or  the 
anxieties  of  war,  or  of  restoring  to  us  any  of  the  advantages 
of  established  tranquillity,  and,  as  a  sincere  lover  of  peace,  I 
cannot  be  content  with  its  nominal  attainment.  I  must  be  desir- 
ous of  pursuing  that  system  which  promises  to  attain,  in  the 
end,  the  permanent  enjoyment  of  its  solid  and  substantial  bless- 
ings for  this  country  and  for  Europe.  As  a  sincere  lover  of 
peace,  I  will  not  sacrifice  it  by  grasping  at  the  shadow  when 
the  reality  is  not  substantially  within  my  reach. 

Cur  igitur  pacem  nolo?  Quia  bifida  est,  quia  periculosa, 
quia  esse  non  potest. 

If,  sir,  in  all  that  I  have  now  offered  to  the  House,  I  have  suc- 
ceeded in  establishing  the  proposition  that  the  system  of  the 
French  Revolution  has  been  such  as  to  afford  to  foreign  powers 
no  adequate  ground  for  security  in  negotiation,  and  that  the 
change  which  has  recently  taken  place  has  not  yet  afforded 
that  security ;  if  I  have  laid  before  you  a  just  statement  of  the 
nature  and  extent  of  the  danger  with  which  we  have  been 
threatened,  it  would  remain  only  shortly  to  consider  whether 
there  is  anything  in  the  circumstances  of  the  present  moment 
to  induce  us  to  accept  a  security  confessedly  inadequate  against 
a  danger  of  such  a  description. 

It  will  be  necessary  here  to  say  a  few  words  on  the  subject  on 

which  gentlemen  have  been  so  fond  of  dwelling,  I  mean  our 

former  negotiations,  and  particularly  that  at  Lisle,  in  1797.     I 

am  desirous  of  stating  frankly  and  openly  the  true  motives 

Vol.  II.— 4 


5° 


PITT 


which  induced  me  to  concur  in  then  recommending  negotiation ; 
and  I  will  leave  it  to  the  House  and  to  the  country  to  judge 
whether  our  conduct  at  that  time  was  inconsistent  with  the  prin- 
ciples by  which  we  are  guided  at  present.  That  revolutionary 
policy  which  I  have  endeavored  to  describe,  that  gigantic  system 
of  prodigality  and  bloodshed  by  which  the  efforts  of  France 
were  supported,  and  which  counts  for  nothing  the  lives  and 
the  property  of  a  nation,  had  at  that  period  driven  us  to  exer- 
tions which  had,  in  a  great  measure,  exhausted  the  ordinary 
means  of  defraying  our  immense  expenditure,  and  had  led 
many  of  those  who  were  the  most  convinced  of  the  original 
justice  and  necessity  of  the  war,  and  of  the  danger  of  Jacobin 
principles,  to  doubt  the  possibility  of  persisting  in  it,  till  com- 
plete and  adequate  security  could  be  obtained.  There  seemed, 
too,  much  reason  to  believe  that,  without  some  new  measure  to 
check  the  rapid  accumulation  of  debt,  we  could  no  longer  trust 
to  the  stability  of  that  funding  system  by  which  the  nation 
had  been  enabled  to  support  the  expense  of  all  the  different  wars 
in  which  we  have  engaged  in  the  course  of  the  present  century. 
In  order  to  continue  our  exertions  with  vigor,  it  became  neces- 
sary that  a  new  and  solid  system  of  finance  should  be  estab- 
lished, such  as  could  not  be  rendered  effectual  but  by  the 
general  and  decided  concurrence  of  public  opinion.  Such  a  con- 
currence in  the  strong  and  vigorous  measures  necessary  for  the 
purpose  could  not  then  be  expected,  but  from  satisfying  the 
country,  by  the  strongest  and  most  decided  proofs,  that  peace, 
on  terms  in  any  degree  admissible,  was  unattainable. 

Under  this  impression,  we  thought  it  our  duty  to  attempt 
negotiation,  not  from  the  sanguine  hope,  even  at  that  time,  that 
its  result  could  afford  us  complete  security,  but  from  the  per- 
suasion that  the  danger  arising  from  peace,  under  such  cir- 
cumstances, was  less  than  that  of  continuing  the  war  with 
precarious  and  inadequate  means.  The  result  of  those  negotia- 
tions proved  that  the  enemy  would  be  satisfied  with  nothing 
less  than  the  sacrifice  of  the  honor  and  independence  of  the 
country.  From  this  conviction,  a  spirit  and  enthusiasm  was  ex- 
cited in  the  nation  which  produced  the  efforts  to  which  we  are 
indebted  for  the  subsequent  change  in  our  situation.  Having 
witnessed  that  happy  change,  having  observed  the  increasing 
prosperity  and  security  of  the  country  from  that  period,  seeing 


HIS   REFUSAL   TO   NEGOTIATE  WITH    BONAPARTE 


5* 


how  much  more  satisfactory  our  prospects  now  are  than  any 
which  we  could  then  have  derived  from  the  successful  result 
of  negotiation,  I  have  not  scrupled  to  declare  that  I  consider 
the  rupture  of  the  negotiation,  on  the  part  of  the  enemy,  as  a 
fortunate  circumstance  for  the  country.  But  because  these  are 
my  sentiments  at  this  time,  after  reviewing  what  has  since 
passed,  does  it  follow  that  we  were  at  that  time  insincere  in  en- 
deavoring to  obtain  peace?  The  learned  gentleman,  indeed, 
assumes  that  we  were,  and  he  even  makes  a  concession,  of  which 
I  desire  not  to  claim  the  benefit.  He  is  willing  to  admit  that, 
on  our  principles  and  our  view  of  the  subject,  insincerity  would 
have  been  justifiable.  I  know,  sir,  no  plea  that  would  justify 
those  who  are  entrusted  with  the  conduct  of  public  affairs  in 
holding  out  to  Parliament  and  to  the  nation  one  object,  while 
they  were,  in  fact,  pursuing  another.  I  did,  in  fact,  believe,  at 
the  moment,  the  conclusion  of  peace,  if  it  could  have  been  ob- 
tained, to  be  preferable  to  the  continuance  of  the  war  under  its 
increasing  risks  and  difficulties.  I  therefore  wished  for  peace ; 
I  sincerely  labored  for  peace.  Our  endeavors  were  frustrated 
by  the  act  of  the  enemy.  If,  then,  the  circumstances  are  since 
changed ;  if  what  passed  at  that  period  has  afforded  a  proof 
that  the  object  we  aimed  at  was  unattainable ;  and  if  all  that 
has  passed  since  has  proved  that,  provided  peace  had  been  then 
made,  it  could  not  have  been  durable,  are  we  bound  to  repeat 
the  same  experiment,  when  every  reason  against  it  is  strength- 
ened by  subsequent  experience,  and  when  the  inducements 
which  led  to  it  at  that  time  have  ceased  to  exist  ? 

When  we  consider  the  resources  and  the  spirit  of  the  coun- 
try, can  any  man  doubt  that  if  adequate  security  is  not  now 
to  be  obtained  by  treaty,  we  have  the  means  of  prosecuting  the 
contest  without  material  difficulty  or  danger,  and  with  a  rea- 
sonable prospect  of  completely  attaining  our  object?  I  will 
not  dwell  on  the  improved  state  of  public  credit ;  on  the  con- 
tinually increasing  amount,  in  spite  of  extraordinary  temporary 
burdens,  of  our  permanent  revenue ;  on  the  yearly  accession  of 
wealth  to  an  extent  unprecedented  even  in  the  most  flourishing 
times  of  peace,  which  we  are  deriving  in  the  midst  of  war,  from 
our  extended  and  flourishing  commerce ;  on  the  progressive 
improvement  and  growth  of  our  manufactures ;  on  the  proofs 
which  we  see  on  all  sides  of  the  uninterrupted  accumulation 


52 


PITT 


of  productive  capital ;  and  on  the  active  exertion  of  every 
branch  of  national  industry  which  can  tend  to  support  and 
augment  the  population,  the  riches,  and  the  power  of  the  coun- 
try. 

As  little  need  I  recall  the  attention  of  the  House  to  the 
additional  means  of  action  which  we  have  derived  from  the 
great  augmentation  of  our  disposable  military  force,  the  con- 
tinued triumphs  of  our  powerful  and  victorious  navy,  and  the 
events  which,  in  the  course  of  the  last  two  years,  have  raised 
the  military  ardor  and  military  glory  of  the  country  to  a  height 
unexampled  in  any  period  of  our  history. 

In  addition  to  these  grounds  of  reliance  on  our  own  st^?ngth 
and  exertions,  we  have  seen  the  consummate  skill  and  valor 
of  the  arms  of  our  allies  proved  by  that  series  of  unexampled 
successes  in  the  course  of  the  last  campaign,  and  we  have  every 
reason  to  expect  a  co-operation  on  the  Continent,  even  to  a 
greater  extent,  in  the  course  of  the  present  year.  If  we  compare 
this  view  of  our  own  situation  with  everything  we  can  ob- 
serve of  the  state  and  condition  of  our  enemy — if  we  can  trace 
him  laboring  under  equal  difficulty  in  finding  men  to  recruit  his 
army,  or  money  to  pay  it — if  we  know  that  in  the  course  of  the 
last  year  the  most  rigorous  efforts  of  military  conscription  were 
scarcely  sufficient  to  replace  to  the  French  armies,  at  the  end 
of  the  campaign,  the  numbers  which  they  had  lost  in  the  course 
of  it — if  we  have  seen  that  that  force,  then  in  possession  of 
advantages  which  it  has  since  lost,  was  unable  to  contend  with 
the  efforts  of  the  combined  armies — if  we  know  that,  even  while 
supported  by  the  plunder  of  all  the  countries  which  they  had 
overrun,  those  armies  were  reduced,  by  the  confession  of 
their  commanders,  to  the  extremity  of  distress,  and  destitute 
not  only  of  the  principal  articles  of  military  supply,  but  almost 
of  the  necessaries  of  life — if  we  see  them  now  driven  back 
within  their  own  frontiers,  and  confined  within  a  country  whose 
own  resources  have  long  since  been  proclaimed  by  their  suc- 
cessive governments  to  be  unequal  either  to  paying  or  main- 
taining them — if  we  observe  that  since  the  last  revolution  no 
one  substantial  or  effectual  measure  has  been  adopted  to  remedy 
the  intolerable  disorder  of  their  finances,  and  to  supply  the 
deficiency  of  their  credit  and  resources — if  we  see  through  large 
and  populous  districts  of  France,  either  open  war  levied  against 


HIS  REFUSAL  TO  NEGOTIATE  WITH  BONAPARTE  53 

the  present  usurpation,  or  evident  marks  of  disunion  and  dis- 
traction, which  the  first  occasion  may  call  forth  into  a  flame — 
if,  I  say  sir,  this  comparison  be  just,  I  feel  myself  authorized  to 
conclude  from  it,  not  that  we  are  entitled  to  consider  ourselves 
certain  of  ultimate  success,  not  that  we  are  to  suppose  ourselves 
exempted  from  the  unforeseen  vicissitudes  of  war,  but  that, 
considering  the  value  of  the  object  for  which  we  are  contend- 
ing, the  means  for  supporting  the  contest,  and  the  probable 
course  of  human  events,  we  should  be  inexcusable,  if  at  this 
moment  we  were  to  relinquish  the  struggle  on  any  grounds 
short  of  entire  and  complete  security ;  that  from  perseverance 
in  our  efforts  under  such  circumstances,  we  have  the  fairest 
reason  to  expect  the  full  attainment  of  our  object ;  but  that 
at  all  events,  even  if  we  are  disappointed  in  our  more  san- 
guine hopes,  we  are  more  likely  to  gain  than  to  lose  by  the 
continuation  of  the  contest ;  that  every  month  to  which  it  is 
continued,  even  if  it  should  not  in  its  effects  lead  to  the  final 
destruction  of  the  Jacobin  system,  must  tend  so  far  to  weaken 
and  exhaust  it,  as  to  give  us  at  least  a  greater  comparative 
security  in  any  termination  of  the  war;  that,  on  all  these 
grounds,  this  is  not  the  moment  at  which  it  is  consistent  with 
our  interest  or  our  duty  to  listen  to  any  proposals  of  negotia- 
tion with  the  present  ruler  of  France ;  but  that  we  are  not, 
therefore,  pledged  to  any  unalterable  determination  as  to  our 
future  conduct ;  that  in  this  we  must  be  regulated  by  the  course 
of  events;  and  that  it  will  be  the  duty  of  His  Majesty's  min- 
isters from  time  to  time  to  adapt  their  measures  to  any  varia- 
tion of  circumstances,  to  consider  how  far  the  effects  of  the 
military  operations  of  the  allies  or  of  the  internal  disposition 
of  France  correspond  with  our  present  expectations ;  and,  on 
a  view  of  the  whole,  to  compare  the  difficulties  or  risks  which 
may  arise  in  the  prosecution  of  the  contest  with  the  prospect 
of  ultimate  success,  or  of  the  degree  of  advantage  to  be  derived 
from  its  farther  continuance,  and  to  be  governed  by  the  results 
of  all  these  considerations  in  the  opinion  and  advice  which 
they  may  offer  to  their  sovereign. 


ON    GRANTING    AID    TO    PORTUGAL 


BY 


GEORGE    CANNING 


GEORGE  CANNING 

1770 — 1827 

George  Canning  was  the  offspring  of  a  love-match,  his  father  having 
married  a  beautiful  girl  with  a  good  education  but  with  no  fortune. 
His  father  died  in  1781,  and  his  mother  attempted  to  make  a  living 
on  the  stage ;  but  her  beauty  had  more  success  than  her  dramatic  talent ; 
she  was  twice  remarried,  first  to  an  actor,  the  last  time  to  a  worthy 
linen  draper  of  Exeter.  Canning  attended  school  at  Eton,  showing 
himself  an  able  scholar.  A  literary  tendency,  derived  from  his  father, 
prompted  him  to  start  and  edit  a  periodical  called  "  The  Microcosm," 
the  commendable  prototype  of  many  schoolboy  magazines  since  then. 

In  1787,  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  he  went  to  Oxford,  and  enjoyed 
the  advantage  of  passing  his  vacations  with  Sheridan,  by  whom  he 
was  made  known  to  Burke,  Fox,  and  other  eminent  Whig  statesmen. 
Sheridan  formed  a  high  opinion  of  the  youth's  abilities,  and  regarded 
him  as  a  coming  light  in  the  party;  and  by  the  influence  of  William 
Pitt,  he  was  seated  in  the  House  of  Commons  in  1793.  In  1796  he  was 
made  Secretary  of  State,  and  took  up  his  permanent  residence  in  Lon- 
don. About  this  time  he  and  some  others  in  sympathy  with  his  ideas 
founded  the  "  Anti-Jacobin,"  Canning  becoming  one  of  the  leading  con- 
tributors. He  joined  Wilberforce  in  the  motion  to  abolish  the  slave- 
trade,  in  1798;  and  two  years  later  he  confirmed  his  claim  to  material 
as  well  as  political  good  fortune  by  marrying  Joanna  Scott,  with  a  for- 
tune of  one  hundred  thousand  pounds  sterling.  While  holding  the 
office  of  Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs  under  the  Portland  ad- 
ministration, Canning  quarrelled  with  Castlereagh,  and  they  fought  a 
duel,  in  which  Canning  was  wounded.  In  1810  he  opposed  the  refer- 
ence to  the  whole  House  of  the  Catholic  claims,  on  the  ground  that  the 
Catholics  had  offered  no  security ;  and  on  this  theme  some  of  his  most 
brilliant  speeches  were  delivered.  He  advocated  Catholic  admission  not 
as  a  right,  but  as  a  matter  of  pure  expediency ;  and  this  view  led  him,  in 
1813,  to  support  the  same  measure  which  he  had  formerly  opposed.  It 
was  Canning  who  aimed  the  first  blow  at  Napoleon,  and  directed  and 
animated  the  British  policy  in  Spain ;  he  declared  that  the  English  ought 
never  to  relinquish  their  hold  on  the  Peninsula.  After  two  years  abroad 
as  minister  to  Portugal  he  returned  to  oppose  Lord  John  Russell's  Re- 
form Bill.  During  the  ensuing  years  he  constantly  took  a  leading  and 
influential  part  in  foreign  affairs ;  and  in  the  debate  over  the  proposi- 
tion to  intervene  in  the  dispute  between  Spain  and  Portugal,  he  spoke 
the  well-known  words,  "  I  resolved  that  if  France  had  Spain,  it  should 
not  be  Spain  with  the  Indies:  I  called  the  New  World  into  existence,  to 
redress  the  balance  of  the  Old !  "  In  1827  he  was  chosen  Prime  Minis- 
ter; and  on  the  eighth  of  August  of  the  same  year  he  died,  at  the  height 
of  his  renown.  Few  statesmen  of  any  country  have  enjoyed  a  career  of 
such  uninterrupted  success.  In  spite  of  his  fortune,  enormous  for  those 
days,  he  is  said  to  have  died  a  poor  man. 

His  foreign  policy  embraced  the  recognition  of  the  South  American 
states,  the  maintenance  of  Portugal's  independence,  and  the  treaty  in 
behalf  of  Greece.  His  attitude  on  the  question  of  the  British  alliance 
with  Portugal  is  well  expressed  in  his  oration,  "  On  Granting  Aid  to 
Portugal."  As  an  orator  he  took  high  rank ;  his  eloquence  was  per- 
suasive and  impassioned,  he  was  lucid  and  logical  in  his  reasoning,  and 
graceful  in  expression.  His  personal  appearance  was  attractive;  he  had 
a  brilliant  wit,  and  in  satire  he  was  caustic  and  able.  At  his  death  it 
was  voted  that  he  be  interred  in  that  Valhalla  of  English  statesmen  of 
eminence,  Westminster  Abbey ;  and  it  is  there  that  his  remains  repose. 

56 


ON   GRANTING  AID  TO   PORTUGAL 

Delivered  in  the  House  of  Commons,  December  12,  1826  1 

MR.  SPEAKER:  In  proposing  to  the  House  of  Com- 
mons to  acknowledge,  by  an  humble  and  dutiful  ad- 
dress, His  Majesty's  most  gracious  message,  and  to 
reply  to  it  in  terms  which  will  be,  in  effect,  an  echo  of  the  senti- 
ments and  a  fufilment  of  the  anticipations  of  that  message,  I  feel 
that,  however  confident  I  may  be  in  the  justice,  and  however 
clear  as  to  the  policy  of  the  measures  therein  announced,  it  be- 
comes me,  as  a  British  minister,  recommending  to  Parliament 
any  step  which  may  approximate  this  country  even  to  the  haz- 
ard of  a  war,  while  I  explain  the  grounds  of  that  proposal,  to 
accompany  my  explanation  with  expressions  of  regret. 

I  can  assure  the  House  that  there  is  not  within  its  walls  any 
set  of  men  more  deeply  convinced  than  His  Majesty's  ministers 
— nor  any  individual  more  intimately  persuaded  than  he  who 
has  now  the  honor  of  addressing  you — of  the  vital  importance 
of  the  continuance  of  peace  to  this  country  and  to  the  world.  So 
strongly  am  I  impressed  with  this  opinion — and  for  reasons  of 
which  I  will  put  the  House  more  fully  in  possession  before  I 
sit  down — that  I  dec'are  there  is  no  question  of  doubtful  or  con- 
troverted policy — no  opportunity  of  present  national  advantage 
— no  precaution  against  remote  o'ifficulty — which  I  would  not 
gladly  compromise,  pass  over,  or  adjourn,  rather  than  call  on 
Parliament  to  sanction,  at  this  moment,  any  measure  which 
had  a  tendency  to  involve  the  country  in  war.  But,  at  the 
same  time,  sir,  I  feel  that  which  has  been  felt,  in  the  best  times 

1  [In  1826,  while  Mr.  Canning  was  the  guese  G  ivernment  asked  for  the  protec- 

English    Minister  of   Foreign   Affairs,   a  tion  of  England.     Five  thousand  troops 

body    of    revolutionary    Absolutists    at-  wire  immediately  sent  to  Portugal,  this 

tempted   to   destroy  the   existing   liberal  being  in  accordance  with  Canning's  pol- 

government  of  Portugal,  which  had  been  icy  of  allowing   each   nation  to  manage 

recognized    by   all   the   great    powers   of  its  internal  affairs  and  of  permitting  no 

Europe.     In  the  course  of  the  insurrec-  interference  with  the  smaller  nations  by 

tion   the   Absolutists   raised   a   body   of  the  larger.— Editor.] 
troops  on  Spanish  soil,  and  the  Portu- 

57 


58  CANNING 

of  English  history,  by  the  best  statesmen  of  this  country,  and 
by  the  Parliaments  by  whom  those  statesmen  were  supported — 
I  feel  that  there  are  two  causes,  and  but  two  causes,  which 
cannot  be  either  compromised,  passed  over,  or  adjourned. 
These  causes  are :  adherence  to  the  national  faith,  and  regard  for 
the  national  honor. 

Sir,  if  I  did  not  consider  both  these  causes  as  involved  in  the 
proposition  which  I  have  this  day  to  make  to  you,  I  should  not 
address  the  House,  as  I  now  do,  in  the  full  and  entire  confidence 
that  the  gracious  communication  of  His  Majesty  will  be  met  by 
the  House  with  the  concurrence  of  which  His  Majesty  has  de- 
clared his  expectation. 

In  order  to  bring  the  matter  which  I  have  to  submit  to  you, 
under  the  cognizance  of  the  House,  in  the  shortest  and  clearest 
manner,  I  beg  leave  to  state  it,  in  the  first  instance,  divested  of 
any  collateral  considerations.  It  is  a  case  of  law  and  of  fact ;  of 
national  law  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  notorious  fact  on  the  other ; 
such  as  it  must  be,  in  my  opinion  as  impossible  for  Parliament, 
as  it  was  for  the  government,  to  regard  in  any  but  one  light,  or 
to  come  to  any  but  one  conclusion  upon  it. 

Among  the  alliances  by  which,  at  different  periods  of  our 
history,  this  country  has  been  connected  with  the  other  nations 
of  Europe,  none  is  so  ancient  in  origin,  and  so  precise  in  obliga- 
tion— none  has  continued  so  long,  and  been  observed  so  faith- 
fully— of  none  is  the  memory  so  intimately  interwoven  with  the 
most  brilliant  records  of  our  triumphs,  as  that  by  which  Great 
Britain  is  connected  with  Portugal.  It  dates  back  to  distant 
centuries ;  it  has  survived  an  endless  variety  of  fortunes.  An- 
terior in  existence  to  the  accession  of  the  House  of  Braganza  to 
the  throne  of  Portugal — it  derived,  however,  fresh  vigor  from 
that  event ;  and  never  from  that  epoch  to  the  present  hour,  has 
the  independent  monarchy  of  Portugal  ceased  to  be  nurtured 
by  the  friendship  of  Great  Britain.  This  alliance  has  never 
been  seriously  interrupted  ;  but  it  has  been  renewed  by  repeated 
sanctions.  It  has  been  maintained  under  difficulties  by  which 
the  fidelity  of  other  alliances  was  shaken,  and  has  been  vindi- 
cated in  fields  of  blood  and  of  glory. 

That  the  alliance  with  Portugal  has  been  always  unquali- 
fiedly advantageous  to  this  country — that  it  has  not  been  some- 
times inconvenient  and   sometimes   burdensome — I   am   not 


ON   GRANTING   AID   TO   PORTUGAL  59 

bound  nor  prepared  to  maintain.  But  no  British  statesman,  so 
far  as  I  know,  has  ever  suggested  the  expediency  of  shaking  it 
off ;  and  it  is  assuredly  not  at  a  moment  of  need  that  honor  and 
what  I  may  be  allowed  to  call  national  sympathy  would  permit 
us  to  weigh,  with  an  over-scrupulous  exactness,  the  amount  of 
difficulties  and  dangers  attendant  upon  its  faithful  and  steadfast 
observance.  What  feelings  of  national  honor  would  forbid  is 
forbidden  alike  by  the  plain  dictates  of  national  faith. 

It  is  not  at  distant  periods  of  history,  and  in  bygone  ages 
only,  that  the  traces  of  the  union  between  Great  Britain  and 
Portugal  are  to  be  found.  In  the  last  compact  of  modern  Eu- 
rope, the  compact  which  forms  the  basis  of  its  present  interna- 
tional law — I  mean  the  treaty  of  Vienna  of  1815 — this  country, 
with  its  eyes  open  to  the  possible  inconveniences  of  the  connec- 
tion, but  with  a  memory  awake  to  its  past  benefits,  solemnly  re- 
newed the  previously  existing  obligations  of  alliance  and  amity 
with  Portugal.  I  will  take  leave  to  read  to  the  House  the  third 
article  of  the  treaty  concluded  at  Vienna,  in  181 5,  between 
Great  Britain  on  the  one  hand  and  Portugal  on  the  other.  It 
is  couched  in  the  following  terms  :  "  The  treaty  of  alliance,  con- 
cluded at  Rio  de  Janeiro,  on  February  19,  1810,  being  founded 
on  circumstances  of  a  temporary  nature,  which  have  happily 
ceased  to  exist,  the  said  treaty  is  hereby  declared  to  be  void  in 
all  its  parts,  and  of  no  effect ;  without  prejudice,  however,  to  the 
ancient  treaties  of  alliance,  friendship,  and  guarantee,  which 
have  so  long  and  so  happily  subsisted  between  the  two  Crowns, 
and  which  are  hereby  renewed  by  the  high  contracting  parties, 
and  acknowledged  to  be  of  full  force  and  effect." 

In  order  to  appreciate  the  force  of  this  stipulation — recent  in 
point  of  time,  recent,  also,  in  the  sanction  of  Parliament — the 
House  will,  perhaps,  allow  me  to  explain  shortly  the  circum- 
stances in  reference  to  which  it  was  contracted.  In  the  year 
1807,  when,  upon  the  declaration  of  Bonaparte,  that  the  House 
of  Braganza  had  ceased  to  reign,  the  King  of  Portugal,  by  the 
advice  of  Great  Britain,  was  induced  to  set  sail  for  the  Brazils ; 
almost  at  the  very  moment  of  his  most  faithful  Majesty's  em- 
barkation a  secret  convention  was  signed  between  His  Majesty 
and  the  King  of  Portugal,  stipulating  that,  in  the  event  of  his 
most  faithful  Majesty's  establishing  the  seat  of  his  government 
in  Brazil,  Great  Britain  would  never  acknowledge  any  other 


60  CANNING 

dynasty  than  that  of  the  House  of  Braganza  on  the  throne  of 
Portugal.  That  convention,  I  say,  was  contemporaneous  with 
the  migration  to  the  Brazils ;  a  step  of  great  importance  at  the 
time,  as  removing  from  the  grasp  of  Bonaparte  the  sovereign 
family  of  Braganza.  Afterwards,  in  the  year  1810,  when  the  seat 
of  the  King  of  Portugal's  government  was  established  at  Rio  de 
Janeiro,  and  when  it  seemed  probable,  in  the  then  apparently 
hopeless  condition  of  the  affairs  of  Europe,  that  it  was  likely 
long  to  continue  there,  the  secret  convention  of  1807,  of  which 
the  main  object  was  accomplished  by  the  fact  of  the  emigration 
to  Brazil,  was  abrogated,  and  a  new  and  public  treaty  was  con- 
cluded, into  which  was  transferred  the  stipulation  of  1807,  bind- 
ing Great  Britain,  so  long  as  his  faithful  Majesty  should  be 
compelled  to  reside  in  Brazil,  not  to  acknowledge  any  other 
sovereign  of  Portugal  than  a  member  of  the  House  of  Braganza. 
That  stipulation,  which  had  hitherto  been  secret,  thus  became 
patent,  and  part  of  the  known  law  of  nations. 

In  the  year  1814,  in  consequence  of  the  happy  conclusion  of 
the  war,  the  option  was  afforded  to  the  King  of  Portugal  of  re- 
turning to  his  European  dominions.  It  was  then  felt  that,  as 
the  necessity  of  his  most  faithful  Majesty's  absence  from  Portu- 
gal had  ceased,  the  ground  for  the  obligation  originally  con- 
tracted in  the  secret  convention  of  1807,  and  afterwards  trans- 
ferred to  the  patent  treaty  of  1810,  was  removed.  The  treaty 
of  1810  was,  therefore,  annulled  at  the  Congress  of  Vienna ;  and 
in  lieu  of  the  stipulation  not  to  acknowledge  any  other  sovereign 
of  Portugal  than  a  member  of  the  House  of  Braganza,  was  sub- 
stituted that  which  I  have  just  read  to  the  House. 

Annulling  the  treaty  of  1810,  the  treaty  of  Vienna  renews  and 
confirms  (as  the  House  will  have  seen)  all  former  treaties  be- 
tween Great  Britain  and  Portugal,  describing  them  as  "  ancient 
treaties  of  alliance,  friendship,  and  guarantee  " ;  as  having 
"  long  and  happily  subsisted  between  the  two  Crowns  " ;  and 
as  being  allowed  by  the  two  high  contracting  parties,  to  remain 
"  in  full  force  and  effect." 

What,  then,  is  the  force — what  is  the  effect  of  those  ancient 
treaties  ?  I  am  prepared  to  show  to  the  House  what  it  is.  But 
before  I  do  so,  I  must  say,  that  if  all  the  treaties  to  which  this 
article  of  the  treaty  of  Vienna  refers  had  perished  by  some  con- 
vulsion of  nature,  or  had  by  some  extraordinary  accident  been 


ON    GRANTING   AID   TO   PORTUGAL  61 

consigned  to  total  oblivion,  still  it  would  be  impossible  not  to 
admit,  as  an  incontestable  inference  from  this  article  of  the 
treaty  of  Vienna  alone,  that,  in  a  moral  point  of  view,  there  is 
incumbent  on  Great  Britain  a  decided  obligation  to  act  as  the 
effectual  defender  of  Portugal.  If  I  could  not  show  the  letter 
of  a  single  antecedent  stipulation,  I  should  still  contend  that  a 
solemn  admission,  only  ten  years  old,  of  the  existence  at  that 
time  of  "  treaties  of  alliance,  friendship,  and  guarantee,"  held 
Great  Britain  to  the  discharge  of  the  obligations  which  that 
very  inscription  implies.  But  fortunately  there  is  no  such  dif- 
ficulty in  specifying  the  nature  of  those  obligations.  All  of  the 
preceding  treaties  exist — all  of  them  are  of  easy  reference — all  of 
them  are  known  to  this  country,  to  Spain,  to  every  nation  of  the 
civilized  world.  They  are  so  numerous,  and  their  general  re- 
sult is  so  uniform,  that  it  may  be  sufficient  to  select  only  two  of 
them  to  show  the  nature  of  all. 

The  first  to  which  I  shall  advert  is  the  treaty  of  1661,  which 
was  concluded  at  the  time  of  the  marriage  of  Charles  II  with 
the  Infanta  of  Portugal.  After  reciting  the  marriage,  and  mak- 
ing over  to  Great  Britain,  in  consequence  of  that  marriage, 
first,  a  considerable  sum  of  money,  and,  secondly,  several  im- 
portant places,  some  of  which,  as  Tangier,  we  no  longer  pos- 
sess, but  others  of  which,  as  Bombay,  still  belong  to  this  coun- 
try, the  treaty  runs  thus :  "  In  consideration  of  all  which  grants, 
so  much  to  the  benefit  of  the  King  of  Great  Britain  and  his 
subjects  in  general,  and  of  the  delivery  of  those  important 
places  to  his  said  Majesty  and  his  heirs  forever,  etc.,  the  King  of 
Great  Britain  does  profess  and  declare,  with  the  consent  and  ad- 
vice of  his  council,  that  he  will  take  the  interest  of  Portugal 
and  all  its  dominions  to  heart,  defending  the  same  with  his  ut- 
most power  by  sea  and  land,  even  as  England  itself " ;  and  it 
then  proceeds  to  specify  the  succors  to  be  sent,  and  the  manner 
of  sending  them. 

I  come  next  to  the  treaty  of  1703,  a  treaty  of  alliance  contem- 
poraneous with  the  Methuen  treaty,  which  has  regulated,  for 
upwards  of  a  century,  the  commercial  relations  of  the  two  coun- 
tries. The  treaty  of  1703  was  a  tripartite  engagement  between 
the  States-General  of  Holland,  England,  and  Portugal.  The 
second  article  of  that  treaty  sets  forth  that  "  if  ever  it  shall  hap- 
pen that  the  Kings  of  Spain  and  France,  either  the  present  or 


62  CANNING 

the  future,  that  both  of  them  together,  or  either  of  them  sepa- 
rately, shall  make  war,  or  give  occasion  to  suspect  that  they 
intend  to  make  war,  upon  the  kingdom  of  Portugal,  either  on 
the  Continent  of  Europe,  or  on  its  dominions  beyond  the  seas, 
Her  Majesty  the  Queen  of  Great  Britain,  and  the  Lords  the 
States-General,  shall  use  their  friendly  offices  with  the  said 
kings,  or  either  of  them,  in  order  to  persuade  them  to  observe 
the  terms  of  peace  towards  Portugal,  and  not  to  make  war 
upon  it."  The  third  article  declares  that  "  in  the  event  of  these 
good  offices  not  proving  successful,  but  altogether  ineffectual, 
so  that  war  should  be  made  by  the  aforesaid  kings,  or  by 
either  of  them,  upon  Portugal,  the  above-mentioned  powers 
of  Great  Britain  and  Holland  shall  make  war  with  all  their 
force  upon  the  aforesaid  kings  or  king  who  shall  carry  hos- 
tile arms  into  Portugal ;  and  towards  that  war,  which  shall 
be  carried  on  in  Europe,  they  shall  supply  twelve  thousand 
men,  whom  they  shall  arm  and  pay,  as  well  when  in  quarters 
as  in  action ;  and  the  said  high  allies  shall  be  obliged  to  keep 
that  number  of  men  complete,  by  recruiting  it  from  time  to 
time  at  their  own  expense." 

I  am  aware,  indeed,  that  with  respect  to  either  of  the  treaties 
which  I  have  quoted  it  is  possible  to  raise  a  question — whether 
variation  of  circumstances  or  change  of  times  may  not  have 
somewhat  relaxed  its  obligations.  The  treaty  of  1661,  it  might 
be  said,  was  so  loose  and  prodigal  in  the  wording — it  is  so  un- 
reasonable, so  wholly  out  of  nature,  that  any  one  country  should 
be  expected  to  defend  another,  "  even  as  itself " ;  such  stipula- 
tions are  of  so  exaggerated  a  character  as  to  resemble  effusions 
of  feeling  rather  than  enunciations  of  deliberate  compact. 
Again,  with  respect  to  the  treaty  of  1703,  if  the  case  rested  on 
that  treaty  alone,  a  question  might  be  raised,  whether  or  not, 
when  one  of  the  contracting  parties — Holland — had  since  so 
changed  her  relations  with  Portugal,  as  to  consider  her  obliga- 
tions under  the  treaty  of  1703  as  obsolete — whether  or  not,  I 
say,  under  such  circumstances,  the  obligation  on  the  remaining 
party  be  not  likewise  void.  I  should  not  hesitate  to  answer 
both  these  objections  in  the  negative.  But  without  entering 
into  such  a  controversy,  it  is  sufficient  for  me  to  say  that  the 
time  and  place  for  taking  such  objections  was  at  the  Congress 
at  Vienna.     Then  and  there  it  was  that  if  you,  indeed,  consid- 


ON   GRANTING   AID   TO   PORTUGAL 


63 


ered  these  treaties  as  obsolete,  you  ought  frankly  and  fearlessly 
to  have  declared  them  to  be  so.  But  then  and  there,  with  your 
eyes  open,  and  in  the  face  of  all  modern  Europe,  you  proclaimed 
anew  the  ancient  treaties  of  alliance,  friendship,  and  guarantee, 
"  so  long  subsisting  between  the  Crowns  of  Great  Britain  and 
Portugal,"  as  still  "  acknowledged  by  Great  Britain,"  and  still 
"  of  full  force  and  effect."  It  is  not,  however,  on  specific  ar- 
ticles alone — it  is  not  so  much,  perhaps,  on  either  of  these 
ancient  treaties,  taken  separately,  as  it  is  on  the  spirit  and  under- 
standing of  the  whole  body  of  treaties,  of  which  the  essence  is 
concentrated  and  preserved  in  the  treaty  of  Vienna,  that  we 
acknowledge  in  Portugal  a  right  to  look  to  Great  Britain  as  her 
ally  and  defender. 

This,  sir,  being  the  state,  morally  and  politically,  of  our  obli- 
gations towards  Portugal,  it  is  obvious  that  when  Portugal,  in 
apprehension  of  the  coming  storm,  called  on  Great  Britain  for 
assistance,  the  only  hesitation  on  our  part  could  be — not 
whether  that  assistance  was  due,  supposing  the  occasion  for  de- 
manding it  to  arise,  but  simply  whether  that  occasion — in  other 
words,  whether  the  casus  fccderis — had  arisen. 

I  understand,  indeed,  that  in  some  quarters  it  has  been  im- 
puted to  His  Majesty's  ministers  that  an  extraordinary  delay  in- 
tervened between  the  taking  of  the  determination  to  give  as- 
sistance to  Portugal  and  the  carrying  of  that  determination  into 
effect.  But  how  stands  the  fact  ?  On  Sunday,  the  third  of  this 
month,  we  received  from  the  Portuguese  ambassador  a  direct 
and  formal  demand  of  assistance  against  a  hostile  aggression 
from  Spain.  Our  answer  was,  that  although  rumors  had 
reached  us  through  France,  His  Majesty's  Government  had  not 
that  accurate  information — that  official  and  precise  intelligence 
of  facts — on  which  they  could  properly  found  an  application  to 
Parliament.  It  was  only  on  last  Friday  night  that  this  precise 
information  arrived.  On  Saturday  His  Majesty's  confidential 
servants  came  to  a  decision.  On  Sunday  that  decision  received 
the  sanction  of  His  Majesty.  On  Monday  it  was  communicated 
to  both  Houses  of  Parliament ;  and  this  day,  sir,  at  the  hour  in 
which  I  have  the  honor  of  addressing  you,  the  troops  are  on 
their  march  for  embarkation. 

I  trust,  then,  sir,  that  no  unseemly  delay  is  imputable  to  gov- 
ernment.    But  undoubtedly,  on  the  other  hand,  when  the  claim 


64  CANNING 

of  Portugal  for  assistance — a  claim  clear,  indeed,  in  justice,  but 
at  the  same  time  fearfully  spreading  in  its  possible  conse- 
quences, came  before  us,  it  was  the  duty  of  His  Majesty's 
Government  to  do  nothing  on  hearsay.  The  eventual  force  of 
the  claim  was  admitted ;  but  a  thorough  knowledge  of  facts 
was  necessary  before  the  compliance  with  that  claim  could  be 
granted.  The  government  here  labored  under  some  disadvan- 
tage. The  rumors  which  reached  us  through  Madrid  were  ob- 
viously distorted,  to  answer  partial  political  purposes ;  and  the 
intelligence  through  the  press  of  France,  though  substan- 
tially correct,  was,  in  particulars,  vague  and  contradictory.  A 
measure  of  grave  and  serious  moment  could  never  be  founded 
on  such  authority ;  nor  could  the  ministers  come  down  to  Par- 
liament until  they  had  a  confident  assurance  that  the  case  which 
they  had  to  lay  before  the  legislature  was  true  in  all  its  parts. 

But  there  was  another  reason  which  induced  a  necessary 
caution.  In  former  instances,  when  Portugal  applied  to  this 
country  for  assistance,  the  whole  power  of  the  state  in  Portugal 
was  vested  in  the  person  of  the  monarch.  The  expression  of 
his  wish,  the  manifestation  of  his  desire,  the  putting  forth  of 
his  claim,  was  sufficient  ground  for  immediate  and  decisive  ac- 
tion on  the  part  of  Great  Britain,  supposing  the  casus  foederis 
to  be  made  out.  But,  on  this  occasion,  inquiry  was  in  the  first 
place  to  be  made  whether,  according  to  the  new  constitution  of 
Portugal,  the  call  upon  Great  Britain  wTas  made  with  the  con- 
sent of  all  the  powers  and  authorities  competent  to  make  it,  so 
as  to  carry  with  it  an  assurance  of  that  reception  in  Portugal 
for  our  army,  which  the  army  of  a  friend  and  ally  had  a  right  to 
expect.  Before  a  British  soldier  should  put  his  foot  on  Portu- 
guese ground,  nay,  before  he  should  leave  the  shores  of  Eng- 
land, it  was  our  duty  to  ascertain  that  the  step  taken  by  the 
regency  of  Portugal  was  taken  with  the  cordial  concurrence  of 
the  legislature  of  that  country.  It  was  but  this  morning  that 
we  received  intelligence  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Chambers  at 
Lisbon,  which  establishes  the  fact  of  such  concurrence.  This 
intelligence  is  contained  in  a  dispatch  from  Sir  W.  A'Court, 
dated  the  twenty-ninth  of  November,  of  which  I  will  read  an 
extract  to  the  House.  "  The  day  after  the  news  arrived  of  the 
entry  of  the  rebels  into  Portugal,  the  ministers  demanded  from 
the  Chambers  an  extension  of  power  for  the  executive  govern- 


ON   GRANTING   AID   TO   PORTUGAL  65 

ment,  and  the  permission  to  apply  for  foreign  succors,  in  virtue 
of  ancient  treaties,  in  the  event  of  their  being  deemed  necessary. 
The  deputies  gave  the  requisite  authority  by  acclamation ;  and 
an  equally  good  spirit  was  manifested  by  the  peers,  who  granted 
every  power  that  the  ministers  could  possibly  require.  They 
even  went  further,  and,  rising  in  a  body  from  their  seats,  de- 
clared their  devotion  to  their  country,  and  their  readiness  to 
give  their  personal  services,  if  necessary,  to  repel  any  hostile 
invasion.  The  Duke  de  Cadaval,  president  of  the  Chamber, 
was  the  first  to  make  this  declaration ;  and  the  minister  who 
described  this  proceeding  to  me,  said  it  was  a  movement  worthy 
of  the  good  days  of  Portugal !" 

I  have  thus  incidentally  disposed  of  the  supposed  imputation 
of  delay  in  complying  with  the  requisition  of  the  Portuguese 
Government.  The  main  question,  however,  is  tins :  Was  it 
obligatory  upon  us  to  comply  with  that  requisition  ?  In  other 
words,  had  the  casus  foederis  arisen?  In  our  opinion  it  had. 
Bands  of  Portuguese  rebels,  armed,  equipped,  and  trained  in 
Spain,  had  crossed  the  Spanish  frontier,  carrying  terror  and 
devastation  into  their  own  country,  and  proclaiming  some- 
times the  brother  of  the  reigning  sovereign  of  Portugal,  some- 
times a  Spanish  princess,  and  sometimes  even  Ferdinand  of 
Spain,  as  the  rightful  occupant  of  the  Portuguese  throne.  These 
rebels  crossed  the  frontier,  not  at  one  point  only,  but  at  several 
points ;  for  it  is  remarkable  that  the  aggression,  on  which  the 
original  application  to  Great  Britain  for  succor  was  founded, 
is  not  the  aggression  with  reference  to  which  that  application 
has  been  complied  with. 

The  attack  announced  by  the  French  newspapers  was  on  the 
north  of  Portugal,  in  the  province  of  Tras-os-Montes ;  an  of- 
ficial account  of  which  has  been  received  by  His  Majesty's  Gov- 
ernment only  this  day.  But  on  Friday  an  account  was  received 
of  an  invasion  in  the  south  of  Portugal,  and  of  the  capture  of 
Villa  Vicosa,  a  town  lying  on  the  road  from  the  southern  fron- 
tier to  Lisbon.  This  new  fact  established  even  more  satisfac- 
torily than  a  mere  confirmation  of  the  attack  first  complained  of 
would  have  done,  the  systematic  nature  of  the  aggression  of 
Spain  against  Portugal.  One  hostile  irruption  might  have  been 
made  by  some  single  corps  escaping  from  their  quarters — by 
some  body  of  stragglers,  who  might  have  evaded  the  vigilance 
Vol.  II. — 5 


66  CANNING 

of  Spanish  authorities  ;  and  one  such  accidental  and  unconnect- 
ed act  of  violence  might  not  have  been  conclusive  evidence  oi 
cognizance  and  design  on  the  part  of  those  authorities ;  but 
when  a  series  of  attacks  are  made  along  the  whole  line  of  a 
frontier,  it  is  difficult  to  deny  that  such  multiplied  instances  of 
hostility  are  evidence  of  concerted  aggression. 

If  a  single  company  of  Spanish  soldiers  had  crossed  the 
frontier  in  hostile  array,  there  could  not,  it  is  presumed,  be  a 
doubt  as  to  the  character  of  that  invasion.  Shall  bodies  of 
men,  armed,  clothed,  and  regimented  by  Spain,  carry  fire  and 
sword  into  the  bosom  of  her  unoffending  neighbor,  and  shall 
it  be  pretended  that  no  attack,  no  invasion  has  taken  place,  be- 
cause, forsooth,  these  outrages  are  committed  against  Portugal 
by  men  to  whom  Portugal  had  given  birth  and  nurture  ?  What 
petty  quibbling  would  it  be  to  say  that  an  invasion  of  Portugal 
from  Spain  was  not  a  Spanish  invasion,  because  Spain  did  not 
employ  her  own  troops,  but  hired  mercenaries  to  effect  her 
purpose  ?  And  what  difference  is  it,  except  as  an  aggravation, 
that  the  mercenaries  in  this  instance  were  natives  of  Portugal. 

I  have  already  stated,  and  I  now  repeat,  that  it  never  has 
been  the  wish  or  the  pretension  of  the  British  government  to  in- 
terfere in  the  internal  concerns  of  the  Portuguese  nation.  Ques- 
tions of  that  kind  the  Portuguese  nation  must  settle  among 
themselves.  But  if  we  were  to  admit  that  hordes  of  traitorous 
refugees  from  Portugal,  with  Spanish  arms,  or  arms  furnished 
or  restored  to  them  by  Spanish  authorities,  in  their  hands,  might 
put  off  their  country  for  one  purpose,  and  put  it  on  again  for 
another — put  it  off  for  the  purpose  of  attack,  and  put  it  on 
again  for  the  purpose  of  impunity — if,  I  say,  we  were  to  admit 
this  juggle,  and  either  pretend  to  be  deceived  by  it  ourselves, 
or  attempt  to  deceive  Portugal,  into  a  belief  that  there  was 
nothing  of  external  attack,  nothing  of  foreign  hostility,  in  such 
a  system  of  aggression — such  pretence  and  attempt  would,  per- 
haps, be  only  ridiculous  and  contemptible ;  if  they  did  not  re- 
quire a  much  more  serious  character  from  being  employed  as  an 
excuse  for  infidelity  to  ancient  friendship,  and  as  a  pretext  for 
getting  rid  of  the  positive  stipulations  of  treaties. 

This,  then,  is  the  case  which  I  lay  before  the  House  of  Com- 
mons. Here  is,  on  the  one  hand,  an  undoubted  pledge  of  na- 
tional faith — not  taken  in  a  corner — not  kept  secret  between  the 


ON   GRANTING   AID   TO   PORTUGAL  67 

parties,  but  publicly  recorded  among  the  annals  of  history,  in 
the  face  of  the  world.  Here  are,  on  the  other  hand,  undeniable 
acts  of  foreign  aggression,  perpetrated,  indeed,  principally 
through  the  instrumentality  of  domestic  traitors,  but  supported 
with  foreign  means,  instigated  by  foreign  councils,  and  directed 
to  foreign  ends.  Putting  these  facts  and  this  pledge  together, 
it  is  impossible  that  His  Majesty  should  refuse  the  call  that  has 
been  made  upon  him ;  nor  can  Parliament,  I  am  convinced, 
refuse  to  enable  His  Majesty  to  fulfil  his  undoubted  obligations. 
I  am  willing  to  rest  the  whole  question  of  to-night,  and  to  call 
for  the  vote  of  the  House  of  Commons  upon  this  simple  case, 
divested  altogether  of  collateral  circumstances ;  from  which  I 
especially  wish  to  separate  it,  in  the  minds  of  those  who  hear 
me,  and  also  in  the  minds  of  others,  to  whom  what  I  now  say 
will  find  its  way.  If  I  were  to  sit  down  this  moment,  without 
adding  another  word,  I  have  no  doubt  but  that  I  should  have 
the  concurrence  of  the  House  in  the  address  which  I  mean  to 
propose. 

When  I  state  this  it  will  be  obvious  to  the  House  that  the 
vote  for  which  I  am  about  to  call  upon  them  is  a  vote  for  the 
defence  of  Portugal,  not  a  vote  for  war  against  Spain.  I  beg 
the  House  to  keep  these  two  points  entirely  distinct  in  their 
consideration.  For  the  former  I  think  I  have  said  enough.  If, 
in  what  I  have  now  further  to  say,  I  should  bear  hard  upon  the 
Spanish  Government  I  beg  that  it  may  be  observed  that,  un- 
justifiable as  I  shall  show  their  conduct  to  have  been — contrary 
to  the  law  of  nations,  contrary  to  the  law  of  good  neighborhood, 
contrary,  I  might  say,  to  the  laws  of  God  and  man — with  respect 
to  Portugal ! — still  I  do  not  mean  to  preclude  a  locus  pccnitentice, 
a  possibility  of  redress  and  reparation.  It  is  our  duty  to  fly  to 
the  defence  of  Portugal,  be  the  assailant  who  he  may.  And,  be 
it  remembered,  that,  in  thus  fulfilling  the  stipulation  of  ancient 
treaties,  of  the  existence  and  obligation  of  which  all  the  world 
are  aware,  we,  according  to  the  universally  admitted  construc- 
tion of  the  law  of  nations,  neither  make  war  upon  that  assailant, 
nor  give  to  that  assailant,  much  less  to  any  other  power,  just 
cause  of  war  against  ourselves. 

Sir,  the  present  situation  of  Portugal  is  so  anomalous,  and 
the  recent  years  of  her  history  are  crowded  with  events  so  un- 
usual, that  the  House  will,  perhaps,  not  think  that  I  am  unprof- 


68  CANNING 

itably  wasting  its  time,  if  I  take  the  liberty  of  calling  its  atten- 
tion, shortly  and  succinctly,  to  those  events,  and  to  their  influ- 
ence on  the  political  relations  of  Europe.  It  is  known  that 
the  consequence  of  the  residence  of  the  King  of  Portugal  in 
Brazil  was  to  raise  the  latter  country  from  a  colonial  to  a  met- 
ropolitan condition  ;  and  that,  from  the  time  when  the  King  be- 
gan to  contemplate  his  return  to  Portugal,  there  grew  up  in 
Brazil  a  desire  of  independence  that  threatened  dissension,  if 
not  something  like  civil  contest,  between  the  European  and 
American  dominions  of  the  House  of  Braganza.  It  is  known, 
also,  that  Great  Britain  undertook  a  mediation  between  Portu- 
gal and  Brazil,  and  induced  the  King  to  consent  to  a  separation 
of  the  two  crowns — confirming  that  of  Brazil  on  the  head  of 
his  eldest  son.  The  ink  with  which  this  agreement  was  written 
was  scarcely  dry  when  the  unexpected  death  of  the  King  of  Por- 
tugal produced  a  new  state  of  things,  which  reunited  on  the  same 
head  the  two  crowns  which  it  had  been  the  policy  of  England, 
as  well  as  of  Portugal  and  of  Brazil,  to  separate.  On  that  occa- 
sion Great  Britain  and  another  European  Court,  closely  con- 
nected with  Brazil,  tendered  advice  to  the  Emperor  of  Brazil, 
now  become  King  of  Portugal,  which  advice  it  cannot  be  ac- 
curately said  that  his  Imperial  Majesty  followed,  because  he  had 
decided  for  himself  before  it  reached  Rio  de  Janeiro ;  but  in 
conformity  with  which  advice,  though  not  in  consequence  of  it, 
his  Imperial  Majesty  determined  to  abdicate  the  crown  of  Por- 
tugal in  favor  of  his  eldest  daughter.  But  the  Emperor  of 
Brazil  had  done  more.  What  had  not  been  foreseen — what 
would  have  been  beyond  the  province  of  any  foreign  power  to 
advise — his  Imperial  Majesty  had  accompanied  his  abdication 
of  the  crown  of  Portugal  with  the  grant  of  a  free  constitutional 
charter  for  that  kingdom. 

It  has  been  surmised  that  this  measure,  as  well  as  the  abdica- 
tion which  it  accompanied,  was  the  offspring  of  our  advice. 
No  such  thing — Great  Britain  did  not  suggest  this  measure.  It 
is  not  her  duty  nor  her  practice  to  offer  suggestions  for  the  in- 
ternal regulation  of  foreign  states.  She  neither  approved  nor 
disapproved  of  the  grant  of  a  constitutional  charter  to  Portugal ; 
her  opinion  upon  that  grant  was  never  required.  True  it  is, 
that  the  instrument  of  the  constitutional  charter  was  brought  to 
Europe  by  a  gentleman  of  high  trust  in  the  service  of  the  Brit- 


ON   GRANTING   AID   TO    PORTUGAL  69 

ish  government.  Sir  C.  Stuart  had  gone  to  Brazil  to  nego- 
tiate the  separation  between  that  country  and  Portugal.  In  ad- 
dition to  his  character  of  plenipotentiary  of  Great  Britain,  as  the 
mediating  power,  he  had  also  been  invested  by  the  King  of 
Portugal  with  the  character  of  his  most  faithful  Majesty's  pleni- 
potentiary for  the  negotiation  with  Brazil.  That  negotiation 
had  been  brought  to  a  happy  conclusion ;  and  therewith  the 
British  part  of  Sir  C.  Stuart's  commission  had  terminated.  But 
Sir  C.  Stuart  was  still  resident  at  Rio  de  Janeiro,  as  the  plenipo- 
tentiary of  the  King  of  Portugal,  for  negotiating  commercial 
arrangements  between  Portugal  and  Brazil.  In  this  latter  char- 
acter it  was  that  Sir  C.  Stuart,  on  his  return  to  Europe,  was  re- 
quested by  the  Emperor  of  Brazil  to  be  the  bearer  to  Portugal 
of  the  new  constitutional  charter.  His  Majesty's  government 
found  no  fault  with  Sir  C.  Stuart  for  executing  this  commission  ; 
but  it  was  immediately  felt  that  if  Sir  C.  Stuart  were  allowed  to 
remain  at  Lisbon  it  might  appear,  in  the  eyes  of  Europe,  that 
England  was  the  contriver  and  imposer  of  the  Portuguese  con- 
stitution. Sir  C.  Stuart  was,  therefore,  directed  to  return  home 
forthwith,  in  order  that  the  constitution,  if  carried  into  effect 
there  might  plainly  appear  to  be  adopted  by  the  Portuguese 
nation  itself,  not  forced  upon  them  by  English  interference. 

As  to  the  merits,  sir,  of  the  new  constitution  of  Portugal  I 
have  neither  the  intention  nor  the  right  to  offer  any  opinion. 
Personally,  I  may  have  formed  one  ;  but  as  an  English  minister, 
all  I  have  to  say  is :  May  God  prosper  this  attempt  at  the  es- 
tablishment of  constitutional  liberty  in  Portugal !  and  may  that 
nation  be  found  as  fit  to  enjoy  and  to  cherish  its  new-born  priv- 
ileges as  it  has  often  proved  itself  capable  of  discharging  its  du- 
ties among  the  nations  of  the  world  ! 

I,  sir,  am  neither  the  champion  nor  the  critic  of  the  Portu- 
guese constitution.  But  it  is  admitted  on  all  hands  to  have  pro- 
ceeded from  a  legitimate  source — a  consideration  which  has 
mainly  reconciled  continental  Europe  to  its  establishment ;  and 
to  us,  as  Englishmen,  it  is  recommended  by  the  ready  accep- 
tance which  it  has  met  with  from  all  orders  of  the  Portuguese 
people.  To  that  constitution,  therefore,  thus  unquestioned  in 
its  origin,  even  by  those  who  are  most  jealous  of  new  institu- 
tions— to  that  constitution,  thus  sanctioned  in  its  outset  by  the 
glad  and  grateful  acclamations  of  those  who  are  destined  to  live 


70  CANNING 

under  it — to  that  constitution,  founded  on  principles,  in  a  great 
degree,  similar  to  those  of  our  own,  though  differently  modified 
— it  is  impossible  that  Englishmen  should  not  wish  well.  But 
it  would  not  be  for  us  to  force  that  constitution  on  the  people  of 
Portugal,  if  they  were  unwilling  to  receive  it,  or  if  any  schism 
should  exist  among  the  Portuguese  themselves,  as  to  its  fitness 
and  congeniality  to  the  wants  and  wishes  of  the  nation.  It  is 
no  business  of  ours  to  fight  its  battles.  We  go  to  Portugal  in 
the  discharge  of  a  sacred  obligation,  contracted  under  ancient 
and  modern  treaties.  When  there  nothing  shall  be  done  by  us 
to  enforce  the  establishment  of  the  constitution ;  but  we  must 
take  care  that  nothing  shall  be  done  by  others  to  prevent  it 
from  being  fairly  carried  into  effect.  Internally,  let  the  Portu- 
guese settle  their  own  affairs ;  but  with  respect  to  external  force, 
while  Great  Britain  has  an  arm  to  raise,  it  must  be  raised 
against  the  efforts  of  any  power  that  should  attempt  forcibly 
to  control  the  choice  and  fetter  the  independence  of  Portugal. 

Has  such  been  the  intention  of  Spain?  Whether  the  pro- 
ceedings which  have  lately  been  practised  or  permitted  in 
Spain  were  acts  of  a  government  exercising  the  usual  power  of 
prudence  and  foresight  (without  which  a  government  is,  for  the 
good  of  the  people  which  live  under  it,  no  government  at  all), 
or  whether  they  were  the  acts  of  some  secret  illegitimate  power 
— of  some  furious  fanatical  faction,  overriding  the  counsels  of 
the  ostensible  government,  defying  it  in  the  capital,  and  diso- 
beying it  on  the  frontiers — I  will  not  stop  to  inquire.  It  is  in- 
different to  Portugal,  smarting  under  her  wrongs — it  is  indif- 
ferent to  England,  who  is  called  upon  to  avenge  them — 
whether  the  present  state  of  things  be  the  result  of  the  intrigues 
of  a  faction,  over  which,  if  the  Spanish  government  has  no  con- 
trol, it  ought  to  assume  one  as  soon  as  possible ;  or  of  local 
authorities,  over  whom  it  has  control,  and  for  whose  acts  it 
must,  therefore,  be  held  responsible.  It  matters  not,  I  say, 
from  which  of  these  sources  the  evil  has  arisen.  In  either  case 
Portugal  must  be  protected;  and  from  England  that  protec- 
tion is  due. 

It  would  be  unjust,  however,  to  the  Spanish  government  to 
say  that  it  is  only  among  the  members  of  that  government  that 
an  unconquerable  hatred  of  liberal  institutions  exists  in  Spain. 
However  incredible  the  phenomena  may  appear  in  this  country, 


ON   GRANTING   AID   TO   PORTUGAL  71 

I  am  persuaded  that  a  vast  majority  of  the  Spanish  nation  enter- 
tain a  decided  attachment  to  arbitrary  power,  and  a  predilection 
for  absolute  government.  The  more  liberal  institutions  of 
countries  in  the  neighborhood  have  not  yet  extended  their  in- 
fluence into  Spain,  nor  awakened  any  sympathy  in  the  mass  of 
the  Spanish  people.  Whether  the  public  authorities  of  Spain 
did  or  did  not  partake  of  the  national  sentiment,  there  would 
almost  necessarily  grow  up  between  Portugal  and  Spain,  under 
present  circumstances,  an  opposition  of  feelings  which  it  would 
not  require  the  authority  or  the  suggestions  of  the  government 
to  excite  and  stimulate  into  action.  Without  blame,  therefore, 
to  the  government  of  Spain — out  of  the  natural  antipathy  be- 
tween the  two  neighboring  nations — the  one  prizing  its  recent 
freedom,  the  other  hugging  its  traditionary  servitude — there 
might  arise  mutual  provocations  and  reciprocal  injuries,  which, 
perhaps,  even  the  most  active  and  vigilant  ministry  could  not  al- 
together restrain.  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  such  has  been, 
in  part  at  least,  the  origin  of  the  differences  between  Spain  and 
Portugal.  That  in  their  progress  they  have  been  adopted,  ma- 
tured, methodized,  combined,  and  brought  into  more  perfect 
action,  by  some  authority  more  united  and  more  efficient  than 
the  mere  feeling  disseminated  through  the  mass  of  the  com- 
munity, is  certain ;  but  I  do  believe  their  origin  to  have  been 
as  much  in  the  real  sentiment  of  the  Spanish  population  as  in 
the  opinion  or  contrivance  of  the  government  itself. 

Whether  this  be  or  be  not  the  case  is  precisely  the  question 
between  us  and  Spain.  If,  though  partaking  in  the  general 
feelings  of  the  Spanish  nation,  the  Spanish  government  has, 
nevertheless,  done  nothing  to  embody  those  feelings,  and  to 
direct  them  hostilely  against  Portugal ;  if  all  that  has  occurred 
on  the  frontier  has  occurred  only  because  the  vigilance  of  the 
Spanish  government  has  been  surprised,  its  confidence  be- 
trayed, and  its  orders  neglected ;  if  its  engagements  have  been 
repeatedly  and  shamefully  violated,  not  by  its  own  good-will, 
but  against  its  recommendation  and  desire,  let  us  see  some 
symptoms  of  disapprobation,  some  signs  of  repentance,  some 
measures  indicative  of  sorrow  for  the  past  and  of  sincerity  for 
the  future.  In  that  case  His  Majesty's  message,  to  which  I 
propose  this  night  to  return  an  answer  of  concurrence,  will  re- 
tain the  character  which  I  have  ascribed  to  it — that  of  a  meas- 


72  CANNING 

ure  of  defence  for  Portugal,  not  a  measure  of  resentment  against 
Spain. 

With  these  explanations  and  qualifications  let  us  now  pro- 
ceed to  the  review  of  facts.  Great  desertions  took  place  from  the 
Portuguese  army  into  Spain,  and  some  desertions  took  place 
from  the  Spanish  army  into  Portugal.  In  the  first  instance, 
the  Portuguese  authorities  were  taken  by  surprise ;  but  in  every 
subsequent  instance,  where  they  had  an  opportunity  of  exer- 
cising a  discretion,  it  is  but  just  to  say  that  they  uniformly  dis- 
couraged the  desertions  of  the  Spanish  soldiery.  There  exist 
between  Spain  and  Portugal  specific  treaties,  stipulating  the 
mutual  surrender  of  deserters.  Portugal  had,  therefore,  a  right 
to  claim  of  Spain  that  every  Portuguese  deserter  should  be 
forthwith  sent  back.  I  hardly  know  whether  from  its  own  im- 
pulse, or  in  consequence  of  our  advice,  the  Portuguese  gov- 
ernment waived  its  right  under  those  treaties ;  -very  wisely 
reflecting  that  it  would  be  highly  inconvenient  to  be  placed  by 
the  return  of  their  deserters  in  the  difficult  alternative  of  either 
granting  a  dangerous  amnesty  or  ordering  numerous  executions. 
The  Portuguese  government,  therefore,  signified  to  Spain  that 
it  would  be  entirely  satisfied  if,  instead  of  surrendering  the  de- 
serters, Spain  would  restore  their  arms,  horses,  and  equipments  ; 
and,  separating  the  men  from  their  officers,  would  remove  both 
from  the  frontiers  into  the  interior  of  Spain.  Solemn  engage- 
ments were  entered  into  by  the  Spanish  government  to  this 
effect — first  with  Portugal,  next  with  France,  and  afterwards 
with  England.  Those  engagements,  concluded  one  day,  were 
violated  the  next.  The  deserters,  instead  of  being  disarmed 
and  dispersed,  were  allowed  to  remain  congregated  together 
near  the  frontiers  of  Portugal,  where  they  were  enrolled,  trained, 
and  disciplined  for  the  expedition  which  they  have  since  under- 
taken. It  is  plain  that  in  these  proceedings  there  was  perfidy 
somewhere.  It  rests  with  the  Spanish  government  to  show 
that  it  was  not  with  them.  It  rests  with  the  Spanish  govern- 
ment to  prove  that,  if  its  engagements  have  not  been  fulfilled 
— if  its  intentions  have  been  eluded  and  unexecuted — the  fault 
has  not  been  with  the  government,  and  that  it  is  ready  to  make 
every  reparation  in  its  power. 

I  have  said  that  these  promises  were  made  to  France  and  to 
Great  Britain  as  well  as  to  Portugal.     I  should  do  a  great  injus- 


ON   GRANTING   AID   TO   PORTUGAL  73 

tice  to  France  if  I  were  not  to  add  that  the  representations  of 
that  government  upon  this  point  to  the  Cabinet  of  Madrid  have 
been  as  urgent,  and,  alas !  as  fruitless,  as  those  of  Great  Britain. 
Upon  the  first  irruption  into  the  Portuguese  territory  the 
French  government  testified  its  displeasure  by  instantly  recall- 
ing its  ambassador ;  and  it  further  directed  its  charge  d'affaires 
to  signify  to  his  Catholic  Majesty  that  Spain  was  not  to  look  for 
any  support  from  France  against  the  consequences  of  this  ag- 
gression upon  Portugal.  I  am  bound,  I  repeat,  in  justice  to 
the  French  government,  to  state  that  it  has  exerted  itself  to 
the  utmost  in  urging  Spain  to  retrace  the  steps  which  she  has 
so  unfortunately  taken.  It  is  not  for  me  to  say  whether  any 
more  efficient  course  might  have  been  adopted  to  give  effect 
to  their  exhortations ;  but  as  to  the  sincerity  and  good  faith  of 
the  exertions  made  by  the  government  of  France  to  press 
Spain  to  the  execution  of  her  engagements  I  have  not  the 
shadow  of  a  doubt,  and  I  confidently  reckon  upon  their  con- 
tinuance. 

It  will  be  for  Spain,  upon  knowledge  of  the  step  now  taken 
by  His  Majesty,  to  consider  in  what  way  she  will  meet  it.  The 
earnest  hope  and  wish  of  His  Majesty's  Government  is  that  she 
may  meet  it  in  such  a  manner  as  to  avert  any  ill  consequences  to 
herself  from  the  measure  into  which  we  have  been  driven  by 
the  unjust  attack  upon  Portugal. 

Sir,  I  set  out  with  saying  that  there  were  reasons  which  en- 
tirely satisfied  my  judgment  that  nothing  short  of  a  point  of 
national  faith  or  national  honor  would  justify,  at  the  present 
moment,  any  voluntary  approximation  to  the  possibility  of  war. 
Let  me  be  understood,  however,  distinctly  as  not  meaning  to 
say  that  I  dread  war  in  a  good  cause  (and  in  no  other  way 
may  it  be  the  lot  of  this  country  ever  to  engage !)  from  a  dis- 
trust of  the  strength  of  the  country  to  commence  it,  or  of  her 
resources  to  maintain  it.  I  dread  it,  indeed — but  upon  far  other 
grounds :  I  dread  it  from  an  apprehension  of  the  tremendous 
consequences  which  might  arise  from  any  hostilities  in  which 
we  might  now  be  engaged.  Some  years  ago,  in  the  discussion 
of  the  negotiations  respecting  the  French  war  against  Spain,  I 
took  the  liberty  of  adverting  to  this  topic.  I  then  stated  that 
the  position  of  this  country  in  the  present  state  of  the  world 
was  one  of  neutrality,  not  only  between  contending  nations,  but 


74  CANNING 

between  conflicting  principles;  and  that  it  was  by  neutrality 
alone  that  we  could  maintain  that  balance,  the  preservation  of 
which  I  believed  to  be  essential  to  the  welfare  of  mankind.  I 
then  said  that  I  feared  that  the  next  war  which  should  be 
kindled  in  Europe  would  be  a  war  not  so  much  of  armies  as 
of  opinions.  Not  four  years  have  elapsed,  and  behold  my  ap- 
prehension realized !  It  is,  to  be  sure,  within  narrow  limits  that 
this  war  of  opinion  is  at  present  confined  ;  but  it  is  a  war  of  opin- 
ion that  Spain  (whether  as  government  or  as  nation)  is  now 
waging  against  Portugal ;  it  is  a  war  which  has  commenced  in 
hatred  of  the  new  institutions  of  Portugal.  How  long  is  it 
reasonable  to  expect  that  Portugal  will  abstain  from  retaliation  ? 
If  into  that  war  this  country  shall  be  compelled  to  enter  we 
shall  enter  into  it  with  a  sincere  and  anxious  desire  to  mitigate 
rather  than  exasperate — and  to  mingle  only  in  the  conflict  of 
arms,  not  in  the  more  fatal  conflict  of  opinions.  But  I  much 
fear  that  this  country  (however  earnestly  she  may  endeavor  to 
avoid  it)  could  not,  in  such  case,  avoid  seeing  ranked  under 
her  banners  all  the  restless  and  dissatisfied  of  any  nation  with 
which  she  might  come  in  conflict.  It  is  the  contemplation  of 
this  new  power  in  any  future  war  which  excites  my  most  anx- 
ious apprehension.  It  is  one  thing  to  have  a  giant's  strength, 
but  it  would  be  another  to  use  it  like  a  giant.  The  conscious- 
ness of  such  strength  is,  undoubtedly,  a  source  of  confidence 
and  security ;  but  in  the  situation  in  which  this  country  stands, 
our  business  is  not  to  seek  opportunities  of  displaying  it,  but  to 
content  ourselves  with  letting  the  professors  of  violent  and  ex- 
aggerated doctrines  on  both  sides  feel  that  it  is  not  their  interest 
to  convert  an  umpire  into  an  adversary.  The  situation  of  Eng- 
land, amid  the  struggle  of  political  opinions  which  agitates  more 
or  less  sensibly  different  countries  of  the  world,  may  be  com- 
pared to  that  of  the  Ruler  of  the  Winds,  as  described  by  the 
poet : 

"  Celsa  sedet  AZolus  arce, 
Sceptra  tenens  ;  mollitqiie  animos  et  temperat  z'ras 
Nz  facial,  marz'a  ac  terras  ccehimque  profundum 
Qitippe ferant  rapidi secum,  verrantque per  auras" 

The  consequence  of  letting  loose  the  passions  at  present 
chained  and  confined  would  be  to  produce  a  scene  of  desolation 


ON   GRANTING   AID   TO   PORTUGAL  75 

which  no  man  can  contemplate  without  horror ;  and  I  should 
not  sleep  easy  on  my  couch  if  I  were  conscious  that  I  had  con- 
tributed to  precipitate  it  by  a  single  moment. 

This,  then,  is  the  reason — a  reason  very  different  from  fear — 
the  reverse  of  a  consciousness  of  disability — why  I  dread  the  re- 
currence of  hostilities  in  any  part  of  Europe ;  why  I  would  bear 
much,  and  would  forbear  long;  why  I  would  (as  I  have  said) 
put  up  with  almost  anything  that  did  not  touch  national  faith 
and  national  honor,  rather  than  let  slip  the  furies  of  war,  the 
leash  of  which  we  hold  in  our  hands — not  knowing  whom  they 
may  reach,  or  how  far  their  ravages  may  be  carried.  Such  is 
the  love  of  peace  which  the  British  government  acknowledges ; 
and  such  the  necessity  for  peace  which  the  circumstances  of  the 
world  inculcate.     I  will  push  these  topics  no  further. 

I  return,  in  conclusion,  to  the  object  of  the  address.  Let 
us  fly  to  the  aid  of  Portugal,  by  whomsoever  attacked,  because 
it  is  our  duty  to  do  so ;  and  let  us  cease  our  interference  where 
that  duty  ends.  We  go  to  Portugal  not  to  rule,  not  to  dictate, 
not  to  prescribe  constitutions,  but  to  defend  and  to  preserve 
the  independence  of  an  ally.  We  go  to  plant  the  standard  of 
England  on  the  well-known  heights  of  Lisbon.  Where  that 
standard  is  planted  foreign  dominion  shall  not  come. 


ON    THE     RIGHTS     OF     CATHOLICS 


BY 


DANIEL  O'CONNELL 


DANIEL  O'CONNELL 

1775— 1847 

The  great  Irish  agitator  was  born  in  Cahirciveen,  County  Kerry,  Ire- 
land, on  August  6,  1775 ;  his  death  took  place  when  he  had  reached  his 
seventy-third  year,  at  Genoa,  on  the  coast  of  Italy.  His  parents  des- 
tined him  for  the  priesthood,  and  sent  him  to  the  Jesuits'  college  at 
St.  Omer  for  instruction ;  but  after  he  had  finished  his  course,  he 
announced  that  he  preferred  the  law  of  man  to  the  priesthood  as  a 
profession.  To  the  Middle  Temple  therefore  he  went,  and  after  duly 
completing  his  terms  there,  was  admitted  to  the  Irish  bar  in  1798,  at 
which  date  it  had  been  just  opened  to  the  Catholics.  He  had  great 
powers  as  an  advocate,  and  his  skill  and  versatility  in  conducting  de- 
fences before  the  Crown  courts  caused  him  sometimes  to  be  charged 
with  inconsistencies.  But  his  extraordinary  merits  could  not  be  ob- 
scured;  and  in  1831  he  received  his  silk  gown. 

Long  before  this,  however,  he  had  become  famous  elsewhere  than  in 
forensic  matters.  He  was  not  satisfied  to  be  the  foremost  advocate  of  the 
Irish  bar;  it  was  not  long  before  he  had  won  the  reputation  of  being 
also  the  leader  of  the  Irish  Catholics  in  the  political  field.  He  was 
resolved  to  obtain  for  his  countrymen  admission  to  all  the  rights  of 
other  British  subjects;  and  he  was  chiefly  instrumental  in  forwarding 
the  results  obtained  by  the  Catholic  Board  and  the  Catholic  Associa- 
tion. All  this  was  not  accomplished  without  animated  personal  col- 
lisions; and  he  was  challenged  for  having  applied  the  epithet  of  "  beg- 
garly corporation  "  to  the  corporation  of  Dublin,  which  opposed  the 
Catholic  claims.  He  met  his  antagonist,  and  killed  him.  He  was 
subsequently  challenged  by  Mr.  Peel,  at  the  time  when  the  latter  was 
Secretary  for  Ireland ;  but  two  attempts  to  fight  a  duel  were  frustrated 
by  the  authorities. 

The  repeal  of  the  union  and  the  removal  of  Catholic  disabilities  were 
the  two  measures  to  the  securing  of  which  he  devoted  his  main  ener- 
gies. Before  the  relief  bill  was  passed  he  had  expressed  the  opinion 
that  it  was  possible  for  him  to  sit  in  Parliament;  and  he  had  accord- 
ingly been  elected  to  the  seat  for  County  Clare;  but  he  made  no  attempt 
to  take  his  seat  until  after  the  bill  had  been  passed.  He  was  then 
required  to  take  the  usual  oaths  of  allegiance,  supremacy,  and  abjura- 
tion; and  when  he  claimed  the  benefit  of  the  bill,  it  was  decided  that 
he  was  not  entitled  to  the  advantage  of  its  provisions;  and  he  was  not 
permitted  to  sit.  But  upon  being  re-elected,  the  prohibition  was  re- 
moved. In  1831  he  was  elected  to  sit  for  Kerry;  in  the  same  year  he 
was  arrested  for  sedition,  or  the  suspicion  of  it,  together  with  several 
others,  but  the  prosecution  came  to  nothing,  and  all  were  released.  In 
1841  he  headed  the  repeal  agitation,  and  during  the  two  following  years 
he  promoted  vast  mass-meetings;  in  1843  he  was  again  arrested;  but 
in  1844  the  sentence  which  had  been  passed  upon  him  was  reversed. 

O'Connell's  natural  manner  of  speaking,  in  accordance  with  his 
nature  and  temperament,  was  bold  and  aggressive;  but  he  could  at 
will  adopt  the  most  suave  and  cautious  methods.  In  short,  he  was  a 
master  of  the  oratorical  and  rhetorical  arts;  and  his  indomitable  cour- 
age and  persistence  rendered  him  a  most  formidable  parliamentary 
debater.  The  speech  "  On  the  Rights  of  Catholics  "  is  a  good  example 
of  his  oratory  in  the  cause  to  which  he  devoted  the  greatest  efforts  of 
his  life. 

78 


ON  THE   RIGHTS   OF  CATHOLICS 

Delivered  at  a  meeting  in  Dublin,  February  23,  1814 

I  WISH  to  submit  to  the  meeting  a  resolution,  calling  on  the 
different  counties  and  cities  in  Ireland  to  petition  for 
unqualified  emancipation.  It  is  a  resolution  which  has 
been  already  and  frequently  adopted  ;  when  we  have  persevered 
in  our  petitions,  even  at  periods  when  we  despaired  of  success ; 
and  it  becomes  a  pleasing  duty  to  present  it,  now  that  the  symp- 
toms of  the  times  seem  so  powerfully  to  promise  an  approach- 
ing relief. 

Indeed,  as  long  as  truth  or  justice  can  be  supposed  to  influ- 
ence man ;  as  long  as  man  is  admitted  to  be  under  the  control 
of  reason ;  so  long  must  it  be  prudent  and  wise  to  procure  dis- 
cussions on  the  sufferings  and  the  rights  of  the  people  of 
Ireland.  Truth  proclaims  the  treacherous  iniquity  which  has 
deprived  us  of  our  chartered  liberty ;  truth  destroys  the  flimsy 
pretext  under  which  this  iniquity  is  continued ;  truth  exposes 
our  merits  and  our  sufferings ;  whilst  reason  and  justice  com- 
bine to  demonstrate  our  right — the  right  of  every  human  being 
to  freedom  of  conscience — a  right  without  which  every  honest 
man  must  feel  that  to  him,  individually,  the  protection  of  gov- 
ernment is  a  mockery,  and  the  restriction  of  penal  law  a  sac- 
rilege. 

Truth,  reason,  and  justice  are  our  advocates ;  and  even  in 
England  let  me  tell  you  that  those  powerful  advocates  have 
some  authority.  They  are,  it  is  true,  more  frequently  resisted 
there  than  in  most  other  countries ;  but  yet  they  have  some 
sway  among  the  English  at  all  times.  Passion  may  confound 
and  prejudice  darken  the  English  understanding;  and  inter- 
ested passion  and  hired  prejudice  have  been  successfully  em- 
ployed against  us  at  former  periods ;  but  the  present  season 
appears  singularly  well  calculated  to  aid  the  progress  of  our 
cause,  and  to  advance  the  attainment  of  our  important  objects. 

79 


80  O'CONNELL 

I  do  not  make  the  assertion  lightly.  I  speak  after  deliberate 
investigation,  and  from  solemn  conviction,  my  clear  opinion 
that  we  shall,  during  the  present  session  of  Parliament,  obtain 
a  portion,  at  least,  if  not  the  entire,  of  our  emancipation.  We 
cannot  fail,  unless  we  are  disturbed  in  our  course  by  those  who 
graciously  style  themselves  our  friends,  or  are  betrayed  by  the 
treacherous  machinations  of  part  of  our  own  body. 

Yes,  everything,  except  false  friendship  and  domestic 
treachery,  forebodes  success.  The  cause  of  man  is  in  its 
great  advance.  Humanity  has  been  rescued  from  much  of  its 
thraldom.  In  the  states  of  Europe,  where  the  iron  despotism 
of  the  feudal  system  so  long  classed  men  into  two  species — 
the  hereditary  masters  and  the  perpetual  slaves ;  when  rank 
supplied  the  place  of  merit,  and  to  be  humbly  born  operated 
as  a  perpetual  exclusion — in  many  parts  of  Europe  man  is 
reassuming  his  natural  station,  and  artificial  distinctions  have 
vanished  before  the  force  of  truth  and  the  necessities  of 
governors. 

France  has  a  representative  government ;  and  as  the  unjust 
privileges  of  the  clergy  and  nobility  are  abolished;  as  she  is 
blessed  with  a  most  wise,  clear,  and  simple  code  of  laws ;  as 
she  is  almost  free  from  debt,  and  emancipated  from  odious 
prejudices,  she  is  likely  to  prove  an  example  and  a  light  to  the 
world. 

In  Germany  the  sovereigns  who  formerly  ruled  at  their  free 
will  and  caprice  are  actually  bribing  the  people  to  the  support 
of  their  thrones,  by  giving  them  the  blessings  of  liberty. 
It  is  a  wise  and  glorious  policy.  The  prince  regent  has 
emancipated  his  Catholic  subjects  of  Hanover,  and  traced 
for  them  the  grand  outlines  of  a  free  constitution.  The  other 
states  of  Germany  are  rapidly  following  the  example.  The 
people,  no  longer  destined  to  bear  the  burdens  only  of  society, 
are  called  up  to  take  their  share  in  the  management  of  their 
own  concerns,  and  in  the  sustentation  of  the  public  dignity 
and  happiness.  In  short,  representative  government,  the  only 
rational  or  just  government,  is  proclaimed  by  princes  as  a 
boon  to  their  people,  and  Germany  is  about  to  afford  many  an 
example  of  the  advantages  of  rational  liberty.  Anxious  as 
some  kings  appear  to  be  in  the  great  work  of  plunder  and 
robbery,  others  of  them  are  now  the  first  heralds  of  freedom. 


ON   THE    RIGHTS   OF   CATHOLICS  81 

It  is  a  moment  of  glorious  triumph  to  humanity ;  and  even 
one  instance  of  liberty,  freely  conceded,  makes  compensation 
for  a  thousand  repetitions  of  the  ordinary  crimes  of  military 
monarchs.  The  crime  is  followed  by  its  own  punishment ;  but 
the  great  principle  of  the  rights  of  man  establishes  itself  now 
on  the  broadest  basis,  and  France  and  Germany  now  set  forth 
an  example  for  England  to  imitate. 

Italy,  too,  is  in  the  paroxysms  of  the  fever  of  independence. 
Oh,  may  she  have  strength  to  go  through  the  disease,  and  may 
she  rise  like  a  giant  refreshed  with  wine !  One  thing  is  certain, 
that  the  human  mind  is  set  afloat  in  Italy.  The  flame  of 
freedom  burns ;  it  may  be  smothered  for  a  season  ;  but  all  the 
whiskered  Croats  and  the  fierce  Pandours  of  Austria  will  not 
be  able  to  extinguish  the  sacred  fire.  Spain,  to  be  sure,  chills 
the  heart  and  disgusts  the  understanding.  The  combined 
Inquisition  and  the  Court  press  upon  the  mind,  whilst  they 
bind  the  body  in  fetters  of  adamant.  But  this  despotism  is, 
thank  God,  as  unrelentingly  absurd  as  it  is  cruel,  and  there 
arises  a  darling  hope  out  of  the  very  excess  of  the  evil.  The 
Spaniards  must  be  walking  corpses — they  must  be  living 
ghosts,  and  not  human  beings,  unless  a  sublime  reaction  be  in 
rapid  preparation.   But  let  us  turn  to  our  own  prospects. 

The  cause  of  liberty  has  made,  and  is  making,  great  progress 
in  states  heretofore  despotic.  In  all  the  countries  in  Europe, 
in  which  any  portion  of  freedom  prevails,  the  liberty  of 
conscience  is  complete.  England  alone,  of  all  the  states 
pretending  to  be  free,  leaves  shackles  upon  the  human  mind ; 
England  alone,  amongst  free  states,  exhibits  the  absurd  claim 
of  regulating  belief  by  law,  and  forcing  opinion  by  statute. 
Is  it  possible  to  conceive  that  this  gross,  this  glaring,  this 
iniquitous  absurdity  can  continue?  Is  it  possible,  too,  to  con- 
ceive that  it  can  continue  to  operate,  not  against  a  small  and 
powerless  sect,  but  against  the  millions,  comprising  the  best 
strength,  the  most  affluent  energy  of  the  empire? — a  strength 
and  an  energy  daily  increasing,  and  hourly  appreciating  their 
own  importance.  The  present  system,  disavowed  by  liberalized 
Europe,  disclaimed  by  sound  reason,  abhorred  by  genuine 
religion,  must  soon  and  forever  be  abolished. 

Let  it  not  be  said  that  the  princes  of  the  Continent  were 
forced  by  necessity  to  give  privileges  to  their  subjects,  and  that 
Vol.  II.-6 


82  O'CONNELL 

England  has  escaped  from  a  similar  fate.  I  admit  that  the 
necessity  of  procuring  the  support  of  the  people  was  the  main- 
spring of  royal  patriotism  on  the  Continent ;  but  I  totally  deny 
that  the  ministers  of  England  can  dispense  with  a  similar 
support.  The  burdens  of  the  war  are  permanent ;  the  dis- 
tresses occasioned  by  the  peace  are  pressing;  the  financial 
system  tottering,  and  to  be  supported  in  profound  peace 
only  by  a  war  taxation.  In  the  mean  time,  the  resources  of 
corruption  are  mightily  diminished.  Ministerial  influence  is 
necessarily  diminished  by  one-half  of  the  effective  force  of 
indirect  bribery ;  full  two-thirds  must  be  disbanded.  Peculation 
and  corruption  must  be  put  upon  half-pay,  and  no  allowances. 
The  ministry  lose  not  only  all  those  active  partisans ;  those 
outrageous  loyalists,  who  fattened  on  the  public  plunder  during 
the  seasons  of  immense  expenditure ;  but  those  very  men  will 
themselves  swell  the  ranks  of  the  malcontents,  and  probably 
be  the  most  violent  in  their  opposition.  They  have  no  sweet 
consciousness  to  reward  them  in  their  present  privations ;  and 
therefore  they  are  likely  to  exhaust  the  bitterness  of  their  souls 
on  their  late  employers.  Every  cause  conspires  to  render  this 
the  period  in  which  the  ministry  should  have  least  inclination, 
least  interest,  least  power,  to  oppose  the  restoration  of  our 
rights  and  liberties. 

I  speak  not  from  mere  theory.  There  exist  at  this  moment 
practical  illustrations  of  the  truth  of  my  assertions.  Instances 
have  occurred  which  demonstrate,  as  well  the  inability  of  the 
ministry  to  resist  the  popular  voice,  as  the  utility  of  re-echoing 
that  voice,  until  it  is  heard  and  understood  in  all  its  strength 
and  force.  The  ministers  had  determined  to  continue  the 
property  tax;  they  announced  that  determination  to  their 
partisans  at  Liverpool  and  in  Bristol.  Well,  the  people  of 
England  met ;  they  petitioned  ;  they  repeated — they  reiterated 
their  petitions,  until  the  ministry  felt  they  could  no  longer 
resist ;  and  they  ungraciously,  but  totally,  abandoned  their 
determination  ;  and  the  property  tax  now  expires. 

Another  instance  is  also  now  before  us.  It  relates  to  the 
Corn  Laws.  The  success  of  the  repetition  of  petitions  in  that 
instance  is  the  more  remarkable,  because  such  success  has 
been  obtained  in  defiance  of  the  first  principles  of  political 
economy,  and  in  violation  of  the  plainest  rules  of  political 
justice. 


ON   THE   RIGHTS   OF   CATHOLICS  83 

This  is  not  the  place  to  discuss  the  merits  of  the  Corn  Laws ; 
but  I  cannot  avoid,  as  the  subject  lies  in  my  way,  to  put  upon 
public  record  my  conviction  of  the  inutility  as  well  as  the 
impropriety  of  the  proposed  measure  respecting  those  laws. 
I  expect  that  it  will  be  believed  in  Ireland  that  I  would  not 
volunteer  thus  an  opposition  of  sentiment  to  any  measure,  if 
I  was  not  most  disinterestedly,  and  in  my  conscience,  convinced 
that  such  measure  would  not  be  of  any  substantial  or  permanent 
utility  to  Ireland. 

As  far  as  I  am  personally  concerned,  my  interest  plainly  is  to 
keep  up  the  price  of  lands ;  but  I  am  quite  convinced  that  the 
measure  in  question  will  have  an  effect  permanently  and  fatally 
injurious  to  Ireland.  The  clamor  respecting  the  Corn  Laws 
has  been  fomented  by  parsons  who  were  afraid  that  they  would 
not  get  money  enough  for  their  tithes,  and  absentee  landlords, 
who  apprehended  a  diminution  of  their  rack  rents ;  and  if  you 
observed  the  names  of  those  who  have  taken  an  active  part  in 
favor  of  the  measure,  you  will  find  amongst  them  many,  if  not 
all,  the  persons  who  have  most  distinguished  themselves  against 
the  liberty  and  refigion  of  the  people.  There  have  been,  I  know, 
many  good  men  misled,  and  many  clever  men  deceived,  on  thin 
subject ;  but  the  great  majority  are  of  the  class  of  oppressors. 

There  was  formed,  some  time  ago,  an  association  of  a 
singular  nature  in  Dublin  and  the  adjacent  counties.  Mr 
Luke  White  was,  as  I  remember,  at  the  head  of  it.  It  con- 
tained some  of  our  stoutest  and  most  stubborn  seceders;  it 
published  the  causes  of  its  institution ;  it  recited  that,  whereas 
butcher's  meat  was  dearer  in  Cork,  and  in  Limerick,  and  in 
Belfast  than  in  Dublin,  it  was  therefore  expedient  to  associate, 
in  order  that  the  people  of  Dublin  should  not  eat  meat  too 
cheap.  Large  sums  were  subscribed  to  carry  the  patriotic 
design  into  effect,  but  public  indignation  broke  up  the  ostensi- 
ble confederacy  ;  it  was  too  plain  and  too  glaring  to  bear  public 
inspection.  The  indignant  sense  of  the  people  of  Dublin 
forced  them  to  dissolve  their  open  association;  and  if  the 
present  enormous  increase  of  the  price  of  meat  in  Dublin 
beyond  the  rest  of  Ireland  be  the  result  of  secret  combination 
of  any  individuals,  there  is  at  least  this  comfort,  that  they  do 
not  presume  to  beard  the  public  with  the  open  avowal  of 
their  design  to  increase  the  difficulties  of  the  poor  in  procuring 
food. 


84  O'CONNELL 

Such  a  scheme  as  that,  with  respect  to  meat  in  Dublin — such 
a  scheme,  precisely,  is  the  sought-for  Corn  Law.  The  only 
difference  consists  in  the  extent  of  the  operation  of  both  plans. 
The  corn  plan  is  only  more  extensive,  not  more  unjust  in 
principle,  but  it  is  more  unreasonable  in  its  operation,  because 
its  necessary  tendency  must  be  to  destroy  that  very  market  of 
which  it  seeks  the  exclusive  possession.  The  Corn  Law  men 
want,  they  say,  to  have  the  exclusive  feeding  of  the  manu- 
facturers ;'  but  at  present  our  manufacturers,  loaded  as  they 
are  with  taxation,  are  scarcely  able  to  meet  the  goods  of 
foreigners  in  the  markets  of  the  world.  The  English  are 
already  undersold  in  foreign  markets ;  but  if  to  this  dearness 
produced  by  taxation  there  shall  be  added  the  dearness  pro- 
duced by  dear  food,  is  it  not  plain  that  it  will  be  impossible  to 
enter  into  a  competition  with  foreign  manufacturers,  who  have 
no  taxes  and  cheap  bread?  Thus  the  Corn  Laws  will  destroy 
our  manufactures,  and  compel  our  manufacturers  to  emigrate, 
in  spite  of  penalties ;  and  the  Corn  Law  supporters  will  have 
injured  themselves  and  destroyed  others. 

I  beg  pardon  for  dwelling  on  this  subject.  If  I  were  at 
liberty  to  pursue  it  here,  I  would  not  leave  it  until  I  had 
satisfied  every  dispassionate  man  that  the  proposed  measure  is 
both  useless  and  unjust ;  but  this  is  not  the  place  for  doing 
so,  and  I  only  beg  to  record  at  least  the  honest  dictates  of  my 
judgment  on  this  interesting  topic.  My  argument,  of  the 
efficacy  of  petitioning,  is  strengthened  by  the  impolicy  of  the 
measure  in  question ;  because,  if  petitions,  by  their  number  and 
perseverance,  succeed  in  establishing  a  proposition  impolitic 
in  principle,  and  oppressive  to  thousands  in  operation,  what 
encouragement  does  it  not  afford  to  us  to  repeat  our  petitions 
for  that  which  has  justice  for  its  basis,  and  policy  as  its  support ! 

The  great  advantages  of  discussion  being  thus  apparent,  the 
efficacy  of  repeating,  and  repeating,  and  repeating  again  our 
petitions  being  thus  demonstrated  by  notorious  facts,  the 
Catholics  of  Ireland  must  be  sunk  in  criminal  apathy  if  they 
neglect  the  use  of  an  instrument  so  efficacious  for  their  eman- 
cipation. 

There  is  further  encouragement  at  this  particular  crisis. 
Dissension  has  ceased  in  the  Catholic  body.  Those  who 
paralyzed  our  efforts,  and  gave  our  conduct  the  appearance  and 


ON   THE    RIGHTS   OF   CATHOLICS  85 

reality  of  weakness,  and  wavering,  and  inconsistency,  have  all 
retired.  Those  who  were  ready  to  place  the  entire  of  the 
Catholic  feelings  and  dignity,  and  some  of  the  Catholic  religion 
too,  under  the  feet  of  every  man  who  pleased  to  call  himself  our 
friend,  and  to  prove  himself  our  friend,  by  praising  on  every 
occasion,  and  upon  no  occasion,  the  oppressors  of  the  Catholics, 
and  by  abusing  the  Catholics  themselves ;  the  men  who  would 
link  the  Catholic  cause  to  this  patron  and  to  that,  and  sacrifice 
it  at  one  time  to  the  minister,  and  at  another  time  to  the  oppo- 
sition, and  make  it  this  day  the  tool  of  one  party,  and  the  next 
the  instrument  of  another  party ;  the  men,  in  fine,  who  hoped  to 
traffic  upon  our  country  and  our  religion — who  would  buy 
honors,  and  titles,  and  places,  and  pensions,  at  the  price  of 
the  purity,  and  dignity,  and  safety  of  the  Catholic  Church  in 
Ireland ;  all  those  men  have,  thank  God,  quitted  us,  I  hope  for- 
ever. They  have  returned  into  silence  and  secession,  or  have 
frankly  or  covertly  gone  over  to  our  enemies.  I  regret  deeply 
and  bitterly  that  they  have  carried  with  them  some  few  who, 
like  my  Lord  Fingal,  entertain  no  other  motives  than  those  of 
purity  and  integrity,  and  who,  like  that  noble  lord,  are  merely 
mistaken. 

But  I  rejoice  at  this  separation — I  rejoice  that  they  have  left 
the  single-hearted,  and  the  disinterested,  and  the  indefatigable, 
and  the  independent,  and  the  numerous,  and  the  sincere  Catho- 
lics to  work  out  their  emancipation  unclogged,  unshackled,  and 
undismayed.  They  have  bestowed  on  us  another  bounty  also 
— they  have  proclaimed  the  causes  of  their  secession — they 
have  placed  out  of  doubt  the  cause  of  the  divisions.  It  is  not 
intemperance,  for  that  we  abandoned  ;  it  is  not  the  introduction 
of  extraneous  topics,  for  those  we  disclaimed ;  it  is  simply  and 
purely,  veto  or  no  veto — restriction  or  no  restriction — no  other 
words ;  it  is  religion  and  principle  that  have  divided  us ; 
thanks,  many  thanks  to  the  tardy  and  remote  candor  of  the 
seceders,  that  has  at  length  written  in  large  letters  the  cause 
of  their  secession — it  is  the  Catholic  Church  of  Ireland — it  is 
whether  the  Church  shall  continue  independent  of  a  Protestant 
ministry  or  not.  We  are  for  its  independence^ — the  seceders  are 
for  its  dependence. 

Whatever  shall  be  the  fate  of  our  emancipation  question, 
thank  God  we  are  divided  forever  from  those  who  would  wish. 


86  O'CONNELL 

that  our  Church  should  crouch  to  the  partisans  of  the  Orange 
system.  Thank  God,  secession  has  displayed  its  cloven  foot, 
and  avowed  itself  to  be  synonymous  with  vetoism. 

Those  are  our  present  prospects  of  success.  First,  man  is 
elevated  from  slavery  almost  everywhere,  and  human  nature 
has  become  more  dignified,  and,  I  may  say,  more  valuable. 
Secondly,  England  wants  our  cordial  support,  and  knows  that 
she  has  only  to  secede  to  us  justice  in  order  to  obtain  our 
affectionate  assistance.  Thirdly,  this  is  the  season  of  successful 
petition,  and  the  very  fashion  of  the  times  entitles  our  petition 
to  succeed.  Fourthly,  the  Catholic  cause  is  disencumbered  of 
hollow  friends  and  interested  speculators.  Add  to  all  these  the 
native  and  inherent  strength  of  the  principle  of  religious  free- 
dom and  the  inert  and  accumulating  weight  of  our  wealth,  our 
religion,  and  our  numbers,  and  where  is  the  sluggard  that  shall 
dare  to  doubt  our  approaching  success  ? 

Besides,  even  our  enemies  must  concede  to  us  that  we  act 
from  principle,  and  from  principle  only.  We  prove  our  sincerity 
when  we  refuse  to  make  our  emancipation  a  subject  of  traffic 
and  barter,  and  ask  for  relief  only  upon  those  grounds  which,  if 
once  established,  would  give  to  every  other  sect  the  right  to  the 
same  political  immunity.  All  we  ask  is  "  a  clear  stage  and  no 
favor."  We  think  the  Catholic  religion  the  most  rationally 
consistent  with  the  divine  scheme  of  Christianity,  and,  there- 
fore, all  we  ask  is  that  everybody  should  be  left  to  his  unbiassed 
reason  and  judgment.  If  Protestants  are  equally  sincere,  why 
do  they  call  the  law,  and  the  bribe,  and  the  place,  and  the 
pension,  in  support  of  their  doctrines?  Why  do  they  fortify 
themselves  behind  pains,  and  penalties,  and  exclusions,  and 
forfeitures?  Ought  not  our  opponents  to  feel  that  they  de- 
grade the  sanctity  of  their  religion  when  they  call  in  the  pro- 
fane aid  of  temporal  rewards  and  punishments,  and  that  they 
proclaim  the  superiority  of  our  creed  when  they  thus  admit 
themselves  unable  to  contend  against  it  upon  terms  of  equality, 
and  by  the  weapons  of  reason  and  argument,  and  persevere  in 
refusing  us  all  we  ask — "  a  clear  stage  and  no  favor  "  ? 

Yes,  Mr.  Chairman,  our  enemies,  in  words  and  by  actions, 
admit  and  proclaim  our  superiority.  It  remains  to  our  friends 
alone,  and  to  that  misguided  and  ill-advised  portion  of  the 
Catholics   who  have   shrunk   into   secession — it   remains   for 


ON  THE   RIGHTS  OF  CATHOLICS  87 

those  friends  and  seceders  alone  to  undervalue  our  exertions, 
and  underrate  our  conscientious  opinions. 

Great  and  good  God,  in  what  a  cruel  situation  are  the 
Catholics  of  Ireland  placed !  If  they  have  the  manliness  to 
talk  of  their  oppressors  as  the  paltry  bigots  deserve — if  they 
have  the  honesty  to  express,  even  in  measured  language,  a 
small  portion  of  the  sentiments  of  abhorrence  which  pecu- 
lating bigotry  ought  naturally  to  inspire — if  they  condemn 
the  principle  which  established  the  Inquisition  in  Spain  and 
Orange  lodges  in  Ireland,  they  are  assailed  by  the  combined 
clamor  of  those  parliamentary  friends  and  title-seeking,  place- 
hunting  seceders.  The  war-whoop  of  "  intemperance "  is 
sounded,  and  a  persecution  is  instituted  by  our  advocates  and 
our  seceders,  against  the  Catholic  who  dares  to  be  honest,  and 
fearless,  and  independent! 

But  I  tell  you  what  they  easily  forgive — nay,  what  our 
friends,  sweet  souls,  would  vindicate  to-morrow  in  Parliament, 
if  the  subject  arose  there.  Here  it  is — here  is  the  "  Dublin 
Journal  "  of  the  twenty-first  of  February,  printed  just  two  days 
ago.  In  the  administration  of  Lord  Whitworth,  and  the  secre- 
taryship of  Mr.  Peel,  there  is  a  government  newspaper — a  paper 
supported  solely  by  the  money  of  the  people ;  for  its  circulation 
is  little,  and  its  private  advertisements  less.  Here  is  a  paper 
continued  in  existence  like  a  wounded  reptile — only  whilst  in 
the  rays  of  the  sun,  by  the  heat  and  warmth  communicated 
to  it  by  the  Irish  administration.  Let  me  read  two  passages 
for  you.  The  first  calls  "  Popery  the  deadly  enemy  of  pure 
religion  and  rational  liberty."  Such  is  the  temperate  description 
the  writer  gives  of  the  Catholic  faith.  With  respect  to  purity 
of  religion  I  shall  not  quarrel  with  him.  I  only  differ  with  him 
in  point  of  taste;  but  I  should  be  glad  to  know  what  this 
creature  calls  rational  liberty.  I  suppose  such  as  existed  at 
Lacedaemon — the  dominion  of  Spartans  over  Helots — the 
despotism  of  masters  over  slaves,  that  is  his  rational  liberty. 
We  will  readily  pass  so  much  by.     But  attend  to  this: 

"  I  will,"  says  this  moderate  and  temperate  gentleman,  "  lay 
before  the  readers  such  specimens  of  the  popish  superstition  as 
will  convince  him  that  the  treasonable  combinations  cemented 
by  oaths,  and  the  nocturnal  robbery  and  assassination  which 
have  prevailed  for  many  years  past  in  Ireland,  and  still  exist  in 


88  O'CONNELL 

many  parts  of  it,  are  produced  as  a  necessary  consequence  by 
its  intolerant  and  sanguinary  principles." 

Let  our  seceders — let  our  gentle  friends  who  are  shocked 
at  our  intemperance,  and  are  alive  to  the  mild  and  concili- 
ating virtues  of  Mr.  Peel — read  this  passage,  sanctioned  I 
may  almost  say,  certainly  countenanced  by  those  who  do 
the  work  of  governing  Ireland.  Would  to  God  we  had  but  one 
genuine,  unsophisticated  friend,  one  real  advocate  in  the 
House  of  Commons !  How  such  a  man  would  pour  down 
indignation  on  the  clerks  of  the  Castle,  who  pay  for  this 
base  and  vile  defamation  of  our  religion — of  the  religion  of 
nine-tenths  of  the  population  of  Ireland  ! 

But  perhaps  I  accuse  falsely;  perhaps  the  administration 
of  Ireland  are  guiltless  of  patronizing  these  calumnies.  Look 
at  the  paper  and  determine ;  it  contains  nearly  five  columns 
of  advertisements — only  one  from  a  private  person — and  even 
that  is  a  notice  of  an  anti-popery  pamphlet,  by  a  Mr.  Cousins, 
a  curate  of  the  Established  Church.  Dean  Swift  has  some- 
where observed  that  the  poorest  of  all  possible  rats  was  a 
curate ;  and  if  this  rat  be  so,  if  he  have  as  usual  a  large  family, 
a  great  appetite,  and  little  to  eat,  I  sincerely  hope  that  he  may 
get  what  he  wants — a  fat  living.  Indeed,  for  the  sake  of  con- 
sistency, and  to  keep  up  the  succession  of  bad  pamphlets,  he 
ought  to  get  a  living. 

Well,  what  think  you  are  the  rest  of  the    advertisements? 

First,  there  are  three  from  the  worthy  Commissioners  of  Wide 
Streets;  one  dated  August  6,  1813,  announcing  that  they 
would,  the  ensuing  Wednesday,  receive  certain  proposals. 
Secondly,  the  barony  of  Middlethird  is  proclaimed,  as  of  the 
sixth  of  December  last,  for  fear  the  inhabitants  of  that  barony 
should  not  as  yet  know  they  were  proclaimed.  Thirdly,  the 
proclamation  against  the  Catholic  Board,  dated  only  the  third 
day  of  June  last,  is  printed  lest  any  person  should  forget  the 
history  of  last  year.  Fourthly,  there  is  a  proclamation  stating 
that  gunpowder  was  not  to  be  carried  coastwise  for  six  months, 
and  this  is  dated  the  fifth  of  October  last.  But  why  should  I 
detain  you  with  the  details  of  state  proclamations,  printed  for 
no  other  purpose  than  as  an  excuse  for  putting  so  much  of  the 
public  money  into  the  pocket  of  a  calumniator  of  the  Catholics. 
The  abstract  of  the  rest  is  that  there  is  one  other  proclamation, 


ON   THE    RIGHTS   OF   CATHOLICS  89 

stating  that  Liverpool  is  a  port  fit  for  importation  from  the  East 
Indies ;  another  forbidding  British  subjects  from  serving  in  the 
American  forces  during  the  present,  that  is,  the  past  war ;  and 
another  stating  that  although  we  had  made  peace  with  France, 
we  are  still  at  war  with  America,  and  that,  therefore,  no  marine 
is  to  desert ;  and  to  finish  the  climax,  there  is  a  column  and 
a  half  of  extracts  from  several  statutes ;  all  this  printed  at  the 
expense  of  Government — that  is,  at  the  expense  of  the  people. 

Look  now  at  the  species  of  services  for  which  so  enormous 
a  sum  of  our  money  is  thus  wantonly  lavished !  It  consists 
simply  of  calumnies  against  the  Catholic  religion — calumnies 
so  virulently  atrocious  as,  in  despite  of  the  intention  of  the 
authors,  to  render  themselves  ridiculous.  This  hireling  accuses 
our  religion  of  being  an  enemy  to  liberty,  of  being  an  encour- 
ager  of  treason,  of  instigating  to  robbery,  and  producing  a 
system  of  assassination.  Here  are  libels  for  which  no  prosecu- 
tion is  instituted.  Here  are  libels  which  are  considered  worthy 
of  encouragement,  and  which  are  rewarded  by  the  Irish  treas- 
ury. And  is  it  for  this — is  it  to  supply  this  waste,  this  abuse  of 
public  money — is  it  to  pay  for  those  false  and  foul  calumnies, 
that  we  are,  in  a  season  of  universal  peace,  to  be  borne  down 
with  a  war  taxation?  Are  we  to  have  two  or  three  additional 
millions  of  taxes  imposed  upon  us  in  peace,  in  order  that  this 
intestine  war  of  atrocious  calumny  may  be  carried  on  against 
the  religion  of  the  people  of  Ireland  with  all  the  vigor  of  full  pay 
and  great  plunder.  Let  us,  agitators,  be  now  taunted  by  jobbers 
in  Parliament  with  our  violence,  our  intemperance.  Why,  if  we 
were  not  rendered  patient  by  the  aid  of  a  dignified  contempt, 
)is  there  not  matter  enough  to  disgust  and  to  irritate  almost 
beyond  endurance ! 

Thus  are  we  treated  by  our  friends,  and  our  enemies,  and  our 
seceders ;  the  first  to  abandon,  the  second  oppress,  the  third 
betray  us,  and  they  all  join  in  calumniating  us ;  in  the  last  they 
are  all  combined.  See  how  naturally  they  associate — this 
libeller  in  the  "  Dublin  Journal,"  who  calls  the  Catholic  religion 
a  system  of  assassination,  actually  praises  in  the  same  paper 
some  individual  Catholics ;  he  praises,  by  name,  Quarantotti, 
and  my  Lord  Fingal,  and  the  respectable  party  (those  are  his 
words)  who  join  with  that  noble  lord. 

Of  Lord  Fingal  I  shall  always  speak  with  respect,  because  I 


9o 


O'CONNELL 


entertain  the  opinion  that  his  motives  are  pure  and  honorable ; 
but  can  anything,  or  at  least  ought  anything,  place  his  secession 
in  so  strong  a  point  of  view  to  the  noble  lord  himself  as  to  find 
that  he  and  his  party  are  praised  by  the  very  man  who,  in  the 
next  breath,  treats  his  religion  as  a  system  of  assassination? 
Let  that  party  have  all  the  enjoyment  which  such  praises  can 
confer ;  but  if  a  spark  of  love  for  their  religion  or  their  country 
remains  with  them,  let  them  recollect  that  they  could  have 
earned  those  praises  only  by  having,  in  the  opinion  of  this 
writer,  betrayed  the  one  and  degraded  the  other. 

This  writer,  too,  attempts  to  traduce  Lord  Donoughmore. 
He  attacks  his  lordship  in  bad  English,  and  worse  Latin,  for 
having,  as  he  says,  cried  pcccavi  to  popish  thraldom.  But  the 
ignorant  trader  in  virulence  knew  not  how  to  spell  that  single 
Latin  word,  because  they  do  not  teach  Latin  at  the  charter 
schools. 

I  close  with  conjuring  the  Catholics  to  persevere  in  their 
present  course. 

Let  us  never  tolerate  the  slightest  inroad  on  the  discipline  of 
our  ancient,  our  holy  Church.  Let  us  never  consent  that  she 
should  be  made  the  hireling  of  the  ministry.  Our  forefathers 
would  have  died,  nay,  they  perished  in  hopeless  slavery  rather 
than  consent  to  such  degradation. 

Let  us  rest  upon  the  barrier  where  they  expired,  or  go  back 
into  slavery  rather  than  forward  into  irreligion  and  disgrace! 
Let  us  also  advocate  our  cause  on  the  two  great  principles — 
first,  that  of  an  eternal  separation  in  spirituals  between  our 
Church  and  the  State;  secondly,  that  of  the  eternal  right  to 
freedom  of  conscience — a  right  which,  I  repeat  it  with  pride  and 
pleasure,  would  exterminate  the  Inquisition  in  Spain  and  bury 
in  oblivion  the  bloody  Orange  flag  of  dissension  in  Ireland ! 


PROTEST    AGAINST    SENTENCE    AS 

A    TRAITOR 


BY 


ROBERT    EMMET 


ROBERT    EMMET 
1778— 1803 

The  romantic  and  tragic  career  of  this  young  Irish  patriot,  and  the 
one  memorable  speech  which  he  made  at  his  trial,  after  he  had  been 
condemned  to  death  on  the  gibbet,  entitle  him  to  be  recorded  among  the 
great  company  of  orators.  Robert  Emmet  was  born  in  Dublin  in  1778, 
and  was  hanged  in  the  same  city  twenty-five  years  afterwards.  From  the 
purest  and  most  generous  motives,  he  embraced  the  cause  of  the  Irish 
revolutionists.  The  English  dealt  with  these  men  with  the  most  strenu- 
ous severity ;  and  every  leader  knew  that  in  espousing  the  cause  he  not 
only  took  his  life  in  his  hand,  but  faced  the  imminent  peril  of  death  by 
the  rope.  Robert  Emmet  was  betrothed  to  a  beautiful  girl,  whom  he 
loved  with  all  the  ardor  of  his  nature,  and  who  returned  his  affection 
with  equal  intensity.  In  July,  1803,  a  rising  of  the  revolutionists  was 
planned  in  Dublin ;  and  Emmet  put  himself  at  its  head.  The  rising 
was  unsuccessful ;  the  forces  were  scattered,  and  Emmet  succeeded  in 
making  good  his  escape  to  the  mountains  of  Wicklow.  It  would  have 
been  easy  for  him  to  make  his  way  thence  to  France  or  America,  and  be 
in  safety;  but  the  woman  he  loved  was  in  Dublin,  and  he  could  not 
leave  his  country  without  an  interview  with  her.  Accordingly,  he 
returned  secretly  to  Dublin ;  but  he  was  detected  and  seized,  and,  after 
a  brief  form  of  trial,  sentenced  to  be  hanged.  The  judge  who  passed 
the  sentence  was  Lord  Norbury,  and  the  place  was  the  Session-house. 
Emmet  had  been  charged  with  acting  as  the  emissary  of  France,  with 
a  view  to  that  country's  assuming  rights  of  sovereignty  over  Ireland, 
should  the  revolution  by  their  aid  prove  successful.  When  asked,  ac- 
cording to  the  form,  whether  he  had  anything  to  say  why  sentence 
should  not  be  pronounced  upon  him,  he  made  the  immortal  address 
which  must  always  remain  a  model  of  eloquence  in  the  shadow  of  the 
scaffold.  Never  did  a  noble  and  high-minded  gentleman  repel  in  more 
burning  and  fearless  words  an  aspersion  upon  his  honor.  Continually 
interrupted  by  the  court,  he  fought  his  way  through  his  speech  to  the 
end;  and  told  such  stern  truths  to  his  judges  as  perhaps  were  never 
heard  before  in  a  court  of  justice.  In  Robert  Emmet  Ireland  lost  one 
of  the  most  precious  of  her  patriot  sons ;  a  man  to  be  compared  only 
with  the  highest  names  on  the  roll  of  martyrs  for  their  country,  to  be 
placed  on  equal  terms  with  the  most  honored  among  the  world's  patriots. 


92 


PROTEST  AGAINST  SENTENCE  AS  A  TRAITOR 

Delivered  at  his  trial  before  Lord  Norbury,  Dublin,  Septem- 
ber 19,  1803 

MY  LORDS :  I  am  asked  what  have  I  to  say  why  sen- 
tence of  death  should  not  be  pronounced  on  me,  ac- 
cording to  law.  I  have  nothing  to  say  that  can  alter 
your  "predetermination,  nor  that  it  will  become  me  to  say,  with 
any  view  to  the  mitigation  of  that  sentence  which  you  are  to  pro- 
nounce, and  I  must  abide  by.  But  I  have  that  to  say  which 
interests  me  more  than  life,  and  which  you  have  labored  to 
destroy.  I  have  much  to  say  why  my  reputation  should  be 
rescued  from  the  load  of  false  accusation  and  calumny  which 
has  been  cast  upon  it.  I  do  not  imagine  that,  seated  where  you 
are,  your  mind  can  be  so  free  from  prejudice  as  to  receive  the 
least  impression  from  what  I  am  going  to  utter.  I  have  no  hopes 
that  I  can  anchor  my  character  in  the  breast  of  a  court  consti- 
tuted and  trammelled  as  this  is.  I  only  wish,  and  that  is  the 
utmost  that  I  expect,  that  your  lordships  may  suffer  it  to  float 
down  your  memories  untainted  by  the  foul  breath  of  prejudice, 
until  it  finds  some  more  hospitable  harbor  to  shelter  it  from  the 
storms  by  which  it  is  buffeted.  Were  I  only  to  suffer  death, 
after  being  adjudged  guilty  by  your  tribunal,  I  should  bow  in 
silence  and  meet  the  fate  that  awaits  me  without  a  murmur ;  but 
the  sentence  of  the  law  which  delivers  my  body  to  the  execu- 
tioner, will,  through  the  ministry  of  the  law,  labor  in  its  own 
vindication  to  consign  my  character  to  obloquy  ;  for  there  must 
be  guilt  somewhere ;  whether  in  the  sentence  of  the  court,  or  in 
the  catastrophe,  time  must  determine.  A  man  in  my  situation 
has  not  only  to  encounter  the  difficulties  of  fortune,  and  the  force 
of  power  over  minds  which  it  has  corrupted  or  subjugated,  but 
the  difficulties  of  established  prejudice.  The  man  dies,  but  his 
memory  lives.    That  mine  may  not  perish,  that  it  may  live  in 

93 


94 


EMMET 


the  respect  of  my  countrymen,  I  seize  upon  this  opportunity  to 
vindicate  myself  from  some  of  the  charges  alleged  against  me. 
When  my  spirit  shall  be  wafted  to  a  more  friendly  port — when 
my  shade  shall  have  joined  the  bands  of  those  martyred  heroes 
who  have  shed  their  blood  on  the  scaffold  and  in  the  field,  in  the 
defence  of  their  country  and  of  virtue,  this  is  my  hope ;  I  wish 
that  my  memory  and  my  name  may  animate  those  who  survive 
me,  while  I  look  down  with  complacency  on  the  destruction  of 
that  perfidious  government  which  upholds  its  domination  by 
blasphemy  of  the  Most  High ;  which  displays  its  power  over 
man,  as  over  the  beasts  of  the  forest ;  which  sets  man  upon  his 
brother,  and  lifts  his  hand,  in  the  name  of  God,  against  the  throat 
of  his  fellow  who  believes  or  doubts  a  little  more  or  a  little  less 
than  the  government  standard — a  government  which  is  steeled 
to  barbarity  by  the  cries  of  the  orphans  and  the  tears  of  the 
widows  it  has  made. 

[Here  Lord  Norbury  interrupted,  saying  that  "  the  mean  and 
wicked  enthusiasts  who  felt  as  Emmet  did  were  not  equal  to  the 
accomplishment  of  their  wild  designs."] 

I  appeal  to  the  immaculate  God — I  swear  by  the  throne  of 
Heaven,  before  which  I  must  shortly  appear — by  the  blood  of 
the  murdered  patriots  who  have  gone  before  me — that  my  con- 
duct has  been,  through  all  this  peril,  and  through  all  my  pur- 
poses, governed  only  by  the  conviction  which  I  have  uttered, 
and  by  no  other  view  than  that  of  the  emancipation  of  my  coun- 
try from  the  superinhuman  oppression  under  which  she  has  so 
long  and  too  patiently  travailed ;  and  I  confidently  hope  that, 
wild  and  chimerical  as  it  may  appear,  there  is  still  union  and 
strength  in  Ireland  to  accomplish  this  noblest  of  enterprises.  Of 
this  I  speak  with  the  confidence  of  intimate  knowledge,  and  with 
the  consolation  that  appertains  to  that  confidence.  Think  not, 
my  lord,  I  say  this  for  the  petty  gratification  of  giving  you  a 
transitory  uneasiness.  A  man  who  never  yet  raised  his  voice  to 
assert  a  lie  will  not  hazard  his  character  with  posterity  by  as- 
serting a  falsehood  on  a  subject  so  important  to  his  country,  and 
on  an  occasion  like  this.  Yes,  my  lords,  a  man  who  does  not 
wish  to  have  his  epitaph  written  until  his  country  is  liberated  will 
not  leave  a  weapon  in  the  power  of  envy,  or  a  pretence  to  im- 
peach the  probity  which  he  means  to  preserve  even  in  the  grave 
to  which  tyranny  consigns  him. 


PROTEST   AGAINST   SENTENCE   AS   A   TRAITOR        95 

[Here  he  was  again  interrupted  by  the  court.] 

Again  I  say  that  what  I  have  spoken  was  not  intended  for 
your  lordship,  whose  situation  I  commiserate  rather  than  envy 
— my  expressions  were  for  my  countrymen.  If  there  is  a  true 
Irishman  present,  let  my  last  words  cheer  him  in  the  hour  of 
his  affliction. 

[Here  he  was  again  interrupted.  Lord  Norbury  said  he  did 
not  sit  there  to  hear  treason.] 

I  have  always  understood  it  to  be  the  duty  of  a  judge,  when 
a  prisoner  has  been  convicted,  to  pronounce  the  sentence  of  the 
law.  I  have  also  understood  that  judges  sometimes  think  it 
their  duty  to  hear  with  patience  and  to  speak  with  humanity; 
to  exhort  the  victim  of  the  laws,  and  to  offer,  with  tender  be- 
nignity, their  opinions  of  the  motives  by  which  he  was  actuated 
in  the  crime  of  which  he  was  adjudged  guilty.  That  a  judge  has 
thought  it  his  duty  so  to  have  done,  I  have  no  doubt ;  but  where 
is  the  boasted  freedom  of  your  institutions — where  is  the 
vaunted  impartiality,  clemency,  and  mildness  of  your  courts 
of  justice,  if  an  unfortunate  prisoner,  whom  your  policy,  and 
not  justice,  is  about  to  deliver  into  the  hands  of  the  executioner, 
is  not  suffered  to  explain  his  motives  clearly  and  truly,  and  to 
vindicate  the  principles  by  which  he  was  actuated  ?  My  lords, 
it  may  be  a  part  of  the  system  of  angry  justice  to  bow  a  man's 
mind  by  humiliation  to  the  purposed  ignominy  of  the  scaffold ; 
but  worse  to  me  than  the  purposed  shame  or  the  scaffold's  ter- 
rors would  be  the  shame  of  such  foul  and  unfounded  imputa- 
tions as  have  been  made  against  me  in  this  court.  You,  my 
lord,  are  a  judge ;  I  am  the  supposed  culprit.  I  am  a  man  ;  you 
are  a  man  also.  By  a  revolution  of  power  we  might  change 
places,  though  we  never  could  change  characters.  If  I  stand  at 
the  bar  of  this  court  and  dare  not  vindicate  my  character,  what 
a  farce  is  your  justice !  If  I  stand  at  this  bar  and  dare  not  vin- 
dicate my  character,  how  dare  you  calumniate  it?  Does  the 
sentence  of  death,  which  your  unhallowed  policy  inflicts  on 
my  body,  condemn  my  tongue  to  silence  and  my  reputation  to 
reproach?  Your  executioner  may  abridge  the  period  of  my 
existence ;  but  while  I  exist,  I  shall  not  forbear  to  vindicate  my 
character  and  motives  from  your  aspersions;  and,  as  a  man, 
to  whom  fame  is  dearer  than  life,  I  will  make  the  last  use  of 
that  life  in  doing  justice  to  that  reputation  which  is  to  live  after 


96 


EMMET 


me,  and  which  is  the  only  legacy  I  can  leave  to  those  I  honor  and 
love,  and  for  whom  I  am  proud  to  perish.  As  men,  my  lords, 
we  must  appear  on  the  great  day  at  one  common  tribunal ;  and 
it  will  then  remain  for  the  Searcher  of  all  Hearts  to  show  a 
collective  universe  who  was  engaged  in  the  most  virtuous  ac- 
tions, or  swayed  by  the  purest  motive — my  country's  oppres- 
sors, or — 

[Here  he  was  interrupted  and  told  to  listen  to  the  sentence  of 
the  law.] 

My  lords,  will  a  dying  man  be  denied  the  legal  privilege  of 
exculpating  himself  in  the  eyes  of  the  community  from  an  unde- 
served reproach,  thrown  upon  him  during  his  trial,  by  charg- 
ing him  with  ambition,  and  attempting  to  cast  away  for  a 
paltry  consideration  the  liberties  of  his  country?  Why  did 
your  lordships  insult  me?  Or  rather,  why  insult  justice,  in 
demanding  of  me  why  sentence  of  death  should  not  be  pro- 
nounced against  me?  I  know,  my  lords,  that  form  prescribes 
that  you  should  ask  the  question.  The  form  also  presents  the 
right  of  answering.  This,  no  doubt,  will  be  dispensed  with,  and 
so  might  the  whole  ceremony  of  the  trial,  since  sentence  was 
already  pronounced  at  the  Castle  before  the  jury  were  em- 
panelled. Your  lordships  are  but  the  priests  of  the  oracle,  and 
I  insist  on  the  whole  of  the  forms. 

I  am  charged  with  being  an  emissary  of  France.  An  emissary 
of  France !  and  for  what  end  ?  It  is  alleged  that  I  wish  to  sell 
the  independence  of  my  country ;  and  for  what  end  ?  Was  this 
the  object  of  my  ambition?  And  is  this  the  mode  by  which  a 
tribunal  of  justice  reconciles  contradiction?  No;  I  am  no 
emissary ;  and  my  ambition  was  to  hold  a  place  among  the  de- 
liverers of  my  country,  not  in  power  nor  in  profit,  but  in  the 
glory  of  the  achievement.  Sell  my  country's  independence  to 
France!  and  for  what?  Was  it  a  change  of  masters?  No, 
but  for  ambition.  O!  my  country!  was  it  personal  ambition 
that  could  influence  me?  Had  it  been  the  soul  of  my  actions, 
could  I  not,  by  my  education  and  fortune,  by  the  rank  and  con- 
sideration of  my  family,  have  placed  myself  amongst  the  proud- 
est of  your  oppressors  ?  My  country  was  my  idol !  To  it  I  sac- 
rificed every  selfish,  every  endearing  sentiment ;  and  for  it  I  now 
offer  up  myself,  O  God  !  No,  my  lord  ;  I  acted  as  an  Irishman ; 
determined  on  delivering  my  country  from  the  yoke  of  a  foreign 


PROTEST  AGAINST  SENTENCE  AS  A  TRAITOR    97 

and  unrelenting  tyranny,  and  the  more  galling  yoke  of  a  do- 
mestic faction,  which  is  its  joint  partner  and  perpetrator  in  the 
patricide,  from  the  ignominy  existing  with  an  exterior  of 
splendor  and  a  conscious  depravity.  It  was  the  wish  of  my 
heart  to  extricate  my  country  from  this  doubly  riveted  despotism 
— I  wished  to  place  her  independence  beyond  the  reach  of  any 
power  on  earth.  I  wished  to  exalt  her  to  that  proud  station  of 
the  world.  Connection  with  France  was,  indeed,  intended,  but 
only  as  far  as  mutual  interest  would  sanction  or  require.  Were 
the  French  to  assume  any  authority  inconsistent  with  the  purest 
independence  it  would  be  the  signal  for  their  destruction.  We 
sought  their  aid — and  we  sought  it  as  we  had  assurance  we 
should  obtain  it — as  auxiliaries  in  war,  and  allies  in  peace. 
Were  the  French  to  come  as  invaders  or  enemies,  uninvited  by 
the  wishes  of  the  people,  I  should  oppose  them  to  the  utmost  of 
my  strength.  Yes !  my  countrymen,  I  should  advise  you  to 
meet  them  upon  the  beach  with  a  sword  in  one  hand  and  a  torch 
in  the  other.  I  would  meet  them  with  all  the  destructive  fury  of 
war.  I  would  animate  my  countrymen  to  immolate  them  in 
their  boats,  before  they  had  contaminated  the  soil  of  my 
country.  If  they  succeed  in  landing,  and  if  forced  to  retire 
before  superior  discipline,  I  would  dispute  every  inch  of  ground, 
burn  every  blade  of  grass,  and  the  last  entrenchment  of  liberty 
should  be  my  grave.  What  I  could  not  do  myself,  I  should  leave 
as  a  last  charge  to  my  countrymen  to  accomplish;  because  I 
should  feel  conscious  that  life,  any  more  than  death,  is  unprofit- 
able when  a  foreign  nation  holds  my  country  in  subjection.  But 
it  was  not  as  a  enemy  that  the  succors  of  France  were  to  land. 
I  looked,  indeed,  for  the  assistance  of  France;  but  I  wished 
to  prove  to  France  and  to  the  world  that  Irishmen  deserved 
to  be  assisted ;  that  they  were  indignant  at  slavery,  and  ready 
to  assert  the  independence  and  liberty  of  their  country.  I  wished 
to  procure  for  my  country  the  guarantee  which  Washington 
procured  for  America  ;  to  procure  an  aid  which,  by  its  example, 
would  be  as  important  as  its  valor ;  discipline,  gallant,  pregnant 
with  science  and  experience ;  that  of  a  people  who  would  per- 
ceive the  good,  and  polish  the  rough  points  of  our  character. 
They  would  come  to  us  as  strangers,  and  leave  us  as  friends, 
after  sharing  in  our  perils  and  elevating  our  destiny.  These 
were  my  objects:  not  to  receive  new  taskmasters,  but  to  expel 
Vol.  II.— 7 


98  EMMET 

old  tyrants.  It  was  for  these  ends  I  sought  aid  from  France ; 
because  France,  even  as  an  enemy,  could  not  be  more  implacable 
than  the  enemy  already  in  the  bosom  of  my  country. 

[Here  he  was  interrupted  by  the  court.] 

I  have  been  charged  with  that  importance  in  the  emancipation 
of  my  country  as  to  be  considered  the  keystone  of  the  combina- 
tion of  Irishmen ;  or  as  your  lordship  expressed  it,  "  the  life 
and  blood  of  the  conspiracy."  You  do  me  honor  overmuch: 
you  have  given  to  the  subaltern  all  the  credit  of  a  superior. 
There  are  men  engaged  in  this  conspiracy  who  are  not  only 
superior  to  me,  but  even  to  your  own  conceptions  of  yourself, 
my  lord — men  before  the  splendor  of  whose  genius  and  virtues 
I  should  bow  with  respectful  deference,  and  who  would  think 
themselves  disgraced  by  shaking  your  blood-stained  hand. 

What,  my  lord,  shall  you  tell  me,  on  the  passage  to  the  scaf- 
fold, which  that  tyranny  (of  which  you  are  only  the  inter- 
mediary executioner)  has  erected  for  my  murder,  that  I  am  ac- 
countable for  all  the  blood  that  has  been  and  will  be  shed  in  this 
struggle  of  the  oppressed  against  the  oppressor — shall  you  tell 
me  this,  and  must  I  be  so  very  a  slave  as  not  to  repel  it  ?  I  do 
not  fear  to  approach  the  Omnipotent  Judge  to  answer  for  the 
conduct  of  my  whole  life ;  and  am  I  to  be  appalled  and  falsified 
by  a  mere  remnant  of  mortality  here?  By  you,  too,  although,  if 
it  were  possible  to  collect  all  the  innocent  blood  that  you  have 
shed  in  your  unhallowed  ministry  in  one  great  reservoir,  your 
lordship  might  swim  in  it. 

[Here  the  judge  interrupted.] 

Let  no  man  dare,  when  I  am  dead,  to  charge  me  with  dis- 
honor ;  let  no  man  attaint  my  memory,  by  believing  that  I  could 
have  engaged  in  any  cause  but  that  of  my  country's  liberty  and 
independence ;  or  that  I  could  have  become  the  pliant  minion 
of  power,  in  the  oppression  and  misery  of  my  country.  The 
proclamation  of  the  provisional  government  speaks  for  our 
views ;  no  inference  can  be  tortured  from  it  to  countenance  bar- 
barity or  debasement  at  home,  or  subjection,  humiliation,  or 
treachery  from  abroad.  I  would  not  have  submitted  to  a  for- 
eign oppressor,  for  the  same  reason  that  I  would  resist  the 
foreign  and  domestic  oppressor.  In  the  dignity  of  freedom  I 
would  have  fought  upon  the  threshold  of  my  country,  and  its 
enemy  should  enter  only  by  passing  over  my  lifeless  corpse. 


PROTEST   AGAINST   SENTENCE   AS   A   TRAITOR        99 

And  am  I,  who  lived  but  for  my  country,  and  who  have  sub- 
jected myself  to  the  dangers  of  the  jealous  and  watchful  op- 
pressor, and  the  bondage  of  the  grave,  only  to  give  my  country- 
men their  rights,  and  my  country  her  independence — am  I  to  be 
loaded  with  calumny,  and  not  suffered  to  resent  it?  No,  God 
forbid ! 

[Here  Lord  Norbury  told  Mr.  Emmet  that  his  sentiments  and 
language  disgraced  his  family  and  his  education,  but  more  par- 
ticularly his  father,  Doctor  Emmet,  who  was  a  man,  if  alive,  that 
would  not  countenance  such  opinions.  To  which  Emmet  re- 
plied :j 

If  the  spirits  of  the  illustrious  dead  participate  in  the  concerns 
and  cares  of  those  who  are  dear  to  them  in  this  transitory  life, 
O  ever  dear  and  venerated  shade  of  my  departed  father !  look- 
down  with  scrutiny  upon  the  conduct  of  your  suffering  son,  and 
see  if  I  have,  even  for  a  moment,  deviated  from  those  prin- 
ciples of  morality  and  patriotism  which  it  was  your  care  to  in- 
still into  my  youthful  mind,  and  for  which  I  am  now  about  to 
offer  up  my  life.  My  lords,  you  are  impatient  for  the  sacrifice. 
The  blood  for  which  you  seek  is  not  congealed  by  the  artificial 
terrors  which  surround  your  victim — it  circulates  warmly  and 
unruffled  through  the  channels  which  God  created  for  noble 
purposes,  but  which  you  are  now  bent  to  destroy  for  purposes 
so  grievous  that  they  cry  to  heaven.  Be  ye  patient!  I  hav-3 
but  a  few  more  words  to  say — I  am  going  to  my  cold  and  silent 
grave — my  lamp  of  life  is  nearly  extinguished — my  race  is  run 
— the  grave  opens  to  receive  me,  and  I  sink  into  its  bosom.  I 
have  but  one  request  to  ask  at  my  departure  from  this  world: 
it  is — the  charity  of  its  silence.  That  no  man  write  my  epitaph ; 
for,  as  no  man  who  knows  my  motives  dares  now  vindicate  them, 
let  not  prejudice  or  ignorance  asperse  them.  Let  them  and  me 
rest  in  obscurity  and  peace,  and  my  tomb  remain  uninscribed, 
and  my  memory  in  oblivion,  until  other  times  and  other  men  can 
do  justice  to  my  character.  When  my  country  takes  her  place 
among  the  nations  of  the  earth,  then,  and  not  till  then,  let  my 
epitaph  be  written.    I  have  done. 


CHOICE   EXAMPLES   OF   CLASSIC  SCULPTURE. 


FA  UN  US. 

Photo-engraving  from  the  marble  bust  m  the  Glrptotbek  at  Munich. 

This  bust  is  called  Fauna  colla  macchia — the  faun  with  the  blemish  or  excres- 
cence—in allusion  to  the  small  wen  on  the  right  of  the  neck,  intended,  doubtless, 
to  be  an  appendage  corresponding  with  the  side  tassels  of  the  goat.  Winckelmann 
considers  this  one  of  the  most  exquisite  creations  of  the  antique  sculptor.  It  belongs 
to  the  later  period  of  Greek  sculpture,  probably  the  end  of  the  fourth  century  before 
Christ.  The  name  of  the  artist  is  unknown.  The  bust  was  placed  in  the  sculpture 
gallery  at  Munich  during  the  reign  of  Louis  I.,  Elector  of  Bavaria,  who 
founded  the  artistic  pre-eminence  of  the  city.  The  satyrs  of  Greek  mythology,  and 
the  fauns  of  Roman  mythology,  were  wild  creatures  haunting  the  woodland,  halt 
human,  half  bestial.  They  have  their  counterparts  in  such  imaginary  beings  as 
Puck  and  Ariel.  The  satyr  had  the  goat's  feet  and  horns,  but  in  the  refinement  of 
later  art  the  coarser  elements  of  the  conception  were  eliminated,  and  we  are  pre- 
sented with  a  figure  of  human  though  animal  beauty,  emblematic  of  the  vital  forces 
of  nature.  The  intellectual  part  of  man  is  eliminated,  and  wild  and  wanton  impulse 
is  the  controlling  power  in  the  acts,  gestures  and  expression  of  the  faun,  whose 
fitting  attribute  is  the  timid,  capricious  and  swiftly  moving  hare,  the  denizen  of  the 
forest 


GOD'S    SYMPATHY    FOR    MAN 


BY 


THOMAS    C  HALMERS 


THOMAS   CHALMERS 

1780 — 1847 

Thomas  Chalmers  was  born  at  East  Anstruther,  in  Fifeshire,  March 
17,  1780.  He  received  his  education  at  St.  Andrews  and  was  licensed  to 
preach  when  but  nineteen  years  old,  and,  four  years  later,  ordained  a 
minister.  During  the  first  years  of  his  ministry  his  attention  was  chiefly 
absorbed  by  the  study  of  mathematics  and  natural  philosophy.  He 
formed  classes  in  those  subjects  in  St.  Andrews  and  became  very  popu- 
lar as  a  teacher  and  lecturer.  An  "  Inquiry  into  the  Extent  and  Stability 
of  National  Resources,"  which  he  published  in  1808,  showed  that  he 
had  some  understanding  of  the  principles  of  political  economy  and  a 
capacity  to  deal  with  its  problems. 

At  about  this  time  Chalmers  experienced  a  great  change  in  his  inner 
life  and  became  keenly  susceptible  to  religious  impressions  and  religious 
truths.  While  engaged  in  preparing  an  article  on  Christianity  for  the 
Edinburgh  Encyclopaedia,  after  an  extensive  study  and  prolonged  medi- 
tation, he  was  convinced  that  Christianity  was  a  fact  and  the  Bible 
"  the  veritable  word  of  God."  Under  the  quickening  influence  of  this 
new  inspiration  he  grew  more  devoted  to  his  pastoral  duties,  more  ear- 
nest in  his  life,  and  more  eloquent  in  his  discourses.  When  he  was 
appointed  minister  to  the  Tron  church  in  Glasgow,  in  July,  1815,  the 
fervor  and  eloquence  of  his  preaching  soon  made  him  very  popular. 
His  "  Astronomical  Discourses,"  which  he  published  in  1817,  gave  con- 
vincing proof  of  his  great  intellectual  powers  and  his  lofty  imagination. 
We  can  speak  but  briefly  here  of  the  great  and  good  work  Chalmers 
accomplished  during  his  ministry  in  Glasgow,  especially  after  he  was 
transferred  to  St.  John's  Parish  in  1819.  His  views  on  political  economy 
were  put  into  practice  in  his  parish  with  such  marked  results  that 
when  he  was  entrusted  with  the  management  of  its  poor  he  reduced  the 
pauper  expenditure  to  less  than  one-third  of  the  usual  charges  in  four 
years.  He  founded  some  fifty  Sabbath-schools,  and  in  many  other  ways 
ameliorated  the  lot  of  the  poor  in  his  parish.  Chalmers  accepted  an 
appointment  to  the  chair  of  moral  philosophy  in  St.  Andrews  in  1823, 
and  after  five  years  of  faithful  labor  he  was  called  to  fill  the  chair  of 
theology  at  Edinburgh.  Chalmers's  most  remarkable  work  during  this 
period,  a  book  which  gained  for  him  many  literary  honors  and  the  de- 
gree of  Doctor  of  Laws  from  Oxford,  was  his  treatise  "  On  the  Adapta- 
tion of  External  Nature  to  the  Moral  and  Intellectual  Constitution  of 
Man."  The  later  years  of  Chalmers's  life  became  somewhat  disturbed 
by  the  dissensions  springing  up  within  the  Church  itself.  When  the 
secular  courts  were  appealed  to,  the  crisis  came,  and  Chalmers,  with 
four  hundred  and  seventy  cle:^ymen,  left  the  Church  rather  than  sacri- 
fice principles  he  held  indispensable  to  its  welfare.  The  rest  of  his  life 
was  given  in  the  cause  of  the  Free  Church,  of  which  he  was  thus 
the  virtual  founder.  He  died  suddenly  at  Morningside,  Edinburgh, 
May  31,  1847. 

As  an  orator  Chalmers's  fame  is  undisputed.  As  a  man  he  seems  to 
have  been  universally  esteemed,  admired,  and  loved.  One  biographer 
has  truly  said  of  him :  "  There  have  been  some  loftier  and  more  purely 
original  minds  in  Scotland  than  Chalmers,  but  there  has  never  been  a 
truer  one,  nor  a  heart  whose  Christian  faith  and  piety  were  more  in- 
tense, sincere,  and  humane."  His  sermon  entitled  "  God's  Sympathy 
for  Man,"  is  a  discourse  typical  of  Chalmers,  showing  his  eternal,  un- 
shaken confidence  in  Him  who  marks  the  sparrow's  flight,  and  who 
will  guard  and  protect  his  children  on  the  awful  day  when  the  heavens 
shall  be  rolled  away  like  a  scroll. 

102 


GOD'S  SYMPATHY   FOR  MAN 

I  HAVE  already  attempted  at  full  length  to  establish  the 
position  that  the  infidel  argument  of  astronomers  goes  to 
expunge  a  natural  perfection  from  the  character  of  God, 
even  that  wondrous  property  of  His,  by  which  He,  at  the  same 
instant  of  time,  can  bend  a  close  and  a  careful  attention  on  a 
countless  diversity  of  objects,  and  diffuse  the  intimacy  of  His 
power  and  of  His  presence,  from  the  greatest  to  the  minutest 
and  most  insignificant  of  them  all.  I  also  adverted  shortly  to 
this  other  circumstance,  that  it  went  to  impair  a  moral  at- 
tribute of  the  Deity.  It  goes  to  impair  the  benevolence  of  His 
nature.  It  is  saying  much  for  the  benevolence  of  God  to  say 
that  a  single  world,  or  a  single  system,  is  not  enough  for  it 
— that  it  must  have  the  spread  of  a  mightier  region,  on  which 
it  may  pour  forth  a  tide  of  exuberancy  throughout  all  its  prov- 
inces— that  as  far  as  our  vision  can  carry  us,  it  has  strewed 
immensity  with  the  floating  receptacles  of  life,  and  has  stretched 
over  each  of  them  the  garniture  of  such  a  sky  as  mantles  our 
own  habitation — and  that  even  from  distances  which  are  far 
beyond  the  reach  of  human  eye,  the  songs  of  gratitude  and 
praise  may  now  be  arising  to  the  one  God,  who  sits  sur- 
rounded by  the  regards  of  His  one  great  and  universal  family. 
Now  it  is  saying  much  for  the  benevolence  of  God,  to  say 
that  it  sends  forth  these  wide  and  distant  emanations  over  the 
surface  of  a  territory  so  ample,  that  the  world  we  inhabit, 
lying  imbedded  as  it  does  amidst  so  much  surrounding  great- 
ness, shrinks  into  a  point  that  to  the  universal  eye  might  ap- 
pear to  be  almost  imperceptible.  But  does  it  not  add  to  the 
power  and  to  the  perfection  of  this  universal  eye,  that  at  the 
very  moment  it  is  taking  a  comprehensive  survey  of  the  vast, 
it  can  fasten  a  steady  and  undistracted  attention  on  each  min- 
ute and  separate  portion  of  it ;  that  at  the  very  moment  it  is 
looking  at  all  worlds,  it  can  look  most  pointedly  and  most 

103 


io4 


CHALMERS 


intelligently  to  each  of  them ;  that  at  the  very  moment  it 
sweeps  the  field  of  immensity,  it  can  settle  all  the  earnestness 
of  its  regards  upon  every  distinct  handbreadth  of  that  field; 
that  at  the  very  moment  at  which  it  embraces  the  totality  of 
existence,  it  can  send  a  most  thorough  and  penetrating  in- 
spection into  each  of  its  details,  and  into  every  one  of  its  end- 
less diversities?  You  cannot  fail  to  perceive  how  much  this 
adds  to  the  power  of  the  all-seeing  eye.  Tell  me,  then,  if  it 
do  not  add  as  much  perfection  to  the  benevolence  of  God, 
that  while  it  is  expatiating  over  the  vast  field  of  created  things, 
there  is  not  one  portion  of  the  field  overlooked  by  it ;  that 
while  it  scatters  blessings  over  the  whole  of  an  infinite  range, 
it  causes  them  to  descend  in  a  shower  of  plenty  on  every  sepa- 
rate habitation ;  that  while  His  arm  is  underneath  and  round 
about  all  worlds,  He  enters  within  the  precincts  of  every  one 
of  them,  and  gives  a  care  and  a  tenderness  to  each  individual 
of  their  teeming  population.  Oh !  does  not  the  God,  who  is 
said  to  be  love,  shed  over  this  attribute  of  His  its  finest  illus- 
tration, when,  while  He  sits  in  the  highest  heaven,  and  pours 
out  His  fulness  on  the  whole  subordinate  domain  of  nature 
and  of  providence,  He  bows  a  pitying  regard  on  the  very 
humblest  of  His  children,  and  sends  His  reviving  spirit  into 
every  heart,  and  cheers  by  His  presence  every  home,  and 
provides  for  the  wants  of  every  family,  and  watches  every  sick- 
bed, and  listens  to  the  complaints  of  every  sufferer ;  and  while, 
by  His  wondrous  mind  the  weight  of  universal  government  is 
borne,  oh !  is  it  not  more  wondrous  and  more  excellent  still 
that  He  feels  for  every  sorrow,  and  has  an  ear  open  to  every 
prayer  ? 

"  It  does  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be,"  says  the  apostle 
John,  "  but  we  know  that  when  He  shall  appear,  we  shall  be 
like  Him,  for  we  shall  see  Him  as  He  is."  It  is  the  present 
lot  of  the  angels,  that  they  behold  the  face  of  our  Father  in 
heaven,  and  it  would  seem  as  if  the  effect  of  this  was  to  form 
and  to  perpetuate  in  them  the  moral  likeness  of  Himself,  and 
that  they  reflect  back  upon  Him  His  own  image,  and  that 
thus  a  diffused  resemblance  to  the  Godhead  is  kept  up  amongst 
all  those  adoring  worshippers  who  live  in  the  near  and  rejoic- 
ing contemplation  of  the  Godhead.  Mark,  then,  how  that 
peculiar  and  endearing  feature  in  the  goodness  of  the  Deity, 


GOD'S   SYMPATHY    FOR   MAN  105 

which  we  have  just  now  adverted  to — mark  how  beauteously 
it  is  reflected  downwards  upon  us  in  the  revealed  attitude  of 
angels.  From  the  high  eminences  of  heaven  are  they  bend- 
ing a  wakeful  regard  over  the  men  of  this  sinful  world ; 
and  the  repentance  of  every  one  of  them  spreads  a  joy  and 
a  high  gratulation  throughout  all  its  dwelling-places.  Put 
this  trait  of  the  angelic  character  into  contrast  with  the  dark 
and  lowering  spirit  of  an  infidel.  He  is  told  of  the  multitude 
of  other  worlds,  and  he  feels  a  kindling  magnificence  in  the 
conception,  and  he  is  seduced  by  an  elevation  which  he  can- 
not carry,  and  from  this  airy  summit  does  he  look  down  on 
the  insignificance  of  the  world  we  occupy,  and  pronounces  it 
to  be  unworthy  of  those  visits  and  of  those  attentions  which 
we  read  of  in  the  New  Testament.  He  is  unable  to  wing  his 
upward  way  along  the  scale,  either  of  moral  or  of  natural  per- 
fection ;  and  when  the  wonderful  extent  of  the  field  is  made 
known  to  him,  over  which  the  wealth  of  the  Divinity  is  lav- 
ished— there  he  stops,  and  wilders,  and  altogether  misses  this 
essential  perception,  that  the  power  and  perfection  of  the  Di- 
vinity are  not  more  displayed  by  the  mere  magnitude  of  the 
field  than  they  are  by  that  minute  and  exquisite  filling  up, 
which  leaves  not  its  smallest  portions  neglected ;  but  which 
imprints  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  upon  every  one  of  them ; 
and  proves,  by  every  flower  of  the  pathless  desert,  as  well  as 
by  every  orb  of  immensity,  how  this  unsearchable  Being  can 
care  for  all,  and  provide  for  all,  and,  throned  in  mystery  too 
high  for  us,  can,  throughout  every  instant  of  time,  keep  His 
attentive  eye  on  every  separate  thing  that  He  has  formed,  and 
by  an  act  of  His  thoughtful  and  presiding  intelligence,  can 
constantly  embrace  all. 

But  God,  compassed  about  as  He  is  with  light  inaccessible, 
and  full  of  glory,  lies  so  hidden  from  the  ken  and  conception  of 
all  our  faculties,  that  the  spirit  of  man  sinks  exhausted  by  its 
attempts  to  comprehend  Him.  Could  the  image  of  the  Su- 
preme be  placed  direct  before  the  eye  of  the  mind,  that  flood 
of  splendor,  which  is  ever  issuing  from  Him  on  all  who  have 
the  privilege  of  beholding,  would  not  only  dazzle,  but  over- 
power us.  And  therefore  it  is  that  I  bid  you  look  to  the  re- 
flection of  that  image,  and  thus  to  take  a  view  of  its  mitigated 
glories,  and  to  gather  the  lineaments  of  the  Godhead  in  the 


io6  CHALMERS 

face  of  those  righteous  angels,  who  have  never  thrown  away 
from  them  the  resemblance  in  which  they  were  created;  and, 
unable  as  you  are  to  support  the  grace  and  the  majesty  of 
that  countenance,  before  which  the  sons  and  the  prophets  of 
other  days  fell,  and  became  as  dead  men,  let  us,  before  we 
bring  this  argument  to  a  close,  borrow  one  lesson  of  Him 
who  sitteth  on  the  throne,  from  the  aspect  and  the  revealed 
doings  of  those  who  are  surrounding  it. 

The  infidel,  then,  as  he  widens  the  field  of  his  contempla- 
tions, would  suffer  its  every  separate  object  to  die  away  into 
forgetfulness :  these  angels,  expatiating  as  they  do  over  the 
range  of  a  loftier  universality,  are  represented  as  all  awake 
to  the  history  of  each  of  its  distinct  and  subordinate  provinces. 
The  infidel,  with  his  mind  afloat  among  suns  and  among  sys- 
tems, can  find  no  place  in  his  already  occupied  regards  for 
that  humble  planet  which  lodges  and  accommodates  our  spe- 
cies: the  angels,  standing  on  a  loftier  summit,  and  with  a 
mightier  prospect  of  creation  before  them,  are  yet  represented 
as  looking  down  on  this  single  world,  and  attentively  mark- 
ing the  every  feeling  and  the  every  demand  of  all  its  families. 
The  infidel,  by  sinking  us  down  to  an  unnoticeable  minute- 
ness, would  lose  sight  of  our  dwelling-place  altogether,  and 
spread  a  darkening  shroud  of  oblivion  over  all  the  concerns 
and  all  the  interests  of  men ;  but  the  angels  will  not  so  aban- 
don us ;  and  undazzled  by  the  whole  surpassing  grandeur  of 
that  scenery  which  is  around  them,  are  they  revealed  as  direct- 
ing all  the  fulness  of  their  regard  to  this  our  habitation,  and 
casting  a  longing  and  a  benignant  eye  on  ourselves  and  on 
our  children.  The  infidel  will  tell  us  of  those  worlds  which 
roll  afar,  and  the  number  of  which  outstrips  the  arithmetic  of 
the  human  understanding — and  then,  with  the  hardness  of  an 
unfeeling  calculation,  will  he  consign  the  one  we  occupy,  with 
all  its  guilty  generations,  to  despair.  But  He  who  counts  the 
number  of  the  stars  is  set  forth  to  us  as  looking  at  every  in- 
habitant among  the  millions  of  our  species,  and  by  the  word 
of  the  gospel  beckoning  to  him  with  the  hand  of  invitation, 
and,  on  the  very  first  step  of  his  return,  as  moving  towards 
him  with  all  the  eagerness  of  the  prodigal's  father,  to  receive 
him  back  again  into  that  presence  from  which  he  had  wan- 
dered.    And  as  to  this  world,  in  favor  of  which  the  scowling 


GOD'S   SYMPATHY   FOR   MAN 


107 


infidel  will  not  permit  one  solitary  movement,  all  heaven  is 
represented  as  in  a  stir  about  its  restoration ;  and  there  can- 
not a  single  son  or  a  single  daughter  be  recalled  from  sin 
unto  righteousness  without  an  acclamation  of  joy  amongst  the 
hosts  of  paradise.  Ay,  and  I  can  say  it  of  the  humblest  and 
the  unworthiest  of  you  all,  that  the  eye  of  angels  is  upon  him, 
and  that  his  repentance  would  at  this  moment  send  forth  a 
wave  of  delighted  sensibility  throughout  the  mighty  throng 
of  their  innumerable  legions. 

Now,  the  single  question  I  have  to  ask  is,  On  which  of  the 
two  sides  of  this  contrast  do  we  see  most  of  the  impress  of 
heaven  ?  Which  of  the  two  would  be  most  glorifying  to  God  ? 
Which  of  them  carries  upon  it  most  of  that  evidence  which  lies 
in  its  having  a  celestial  character?  For  if  it  be  the  side  of  the 
infidel,  then  must  all  our  hopes  expire  with  the  ratifying  of  that 
fatal  sentence,  by  which  the  world  is  doomed,  through  its  in- 
significancy, to  perpetual  exclusion  from  the  attentions  of  the 
Godhead.  I  have  long  been  knocking  at  the  door  of  your 
understanding,  and  have  tried  to  find  an  admittance  to  it  for 
many  an  argument.  I  now  make  my  appeal  to  the  sensibilities 
of  your  heart ;  and,  tell  me,  to  whom  does  the  moral  feeling 
within  it  yield  its  readiest  testimony — to  the  infidel,  who  would 
make  this  world  of  ours  vanish  away  into  abandonment — or 
to  those  angels  who  ring  throughout  all  their  mansions  the 
hosannas  of  joy,  over  every  one  individual  of  its  repentant 
population  ? 

And  here  I  cannot  omit  to  take  advantage  of  that  opening 
with  which  our  Saviour  has  furnished  us  by  the  parables  of 
this  chapter,  and  admits  us  into  a  familiar  view  of  that  prin- 
ciple on  which  the  inhabitants  of  heaven  are  so  awake  to  the 
deliverance  and  the  restoration  of  our  species.  To  illustrate 
the  difference  in  the  reach  of  knowledge  and  of  affection  be- 
tween a  man  and  an  angel,  let  us  think  of  the  difference  of 
reach  between  one  man  and  another.  You  may  often  witness 
a  man  who  feels  neither  tenderness  nor  care  beyond  the  pre- 
cincts of  his  own  family ;  but  who,  on  the  strength  of  those 
instinctive  fondnesses  which  nature  has  implanted  in  his 
bosom,  may  earn  the  character  of  an  amiable  father  or  a  kind 
husband,  or  a  bright  example  of  all  that  is  soft  and  endearing 
in  the  relations  of  domestic  society.     Now,  conceive  him,  in 


108  CHALMERS 

addition  to  all  this,  to  carry  his  affections  abroad  without,  at 
the  same  time,  any  abatement  of  their  intensity  towards  the 
objects  which  are  at  home — that,  stepping  across  the  limits  of 
the  house  he  occupies,  he  takes  an  interest  in  the  families  which 
are  near  him — that  he  lends  his  services  to  the  town  or  the 
district  wherein  he  is  placed,  and  gives  up  a  portion  of  his 
time  to  the  thoughtful  labors  of  a  humane  and  public-spirited 
citizen.  By  this  enlargement  in  the  sphere  of  his  attention  he 
has  extended  his  reach ;  and,  provided  he  has  done  so  at  the 
expense  of  that  regard  which  is  due  to  his  family — a  thing 
which,  cramped  and  confined  as  we  are,  we  are  very  apt,  in 
the  exercise  of  our  humble  faculties,  to  do — I  put  it  to  you, 
whether,  by  extending  the  reach  of  his  views  and  his  affec- 
tions, he  has  not  extended  his  worth  and  his  moral  respecta- 
bility along  with  it? 

But  I  can  conceive  a  still  further  enlargement.  I  can  figure 
to  myself  a  man,  whose  wakeful  sympathy  overflows  the  field 
of  his  own  immediate  neighborhood — to  whom  the  name  of 
country  comes  with  all  the  omnipotence  of  a  charm  upon  his 
heart,  and  with  all  the  urgency  of  a  most  righteous  and  re- 
sistless claim  upon  his  services — who  never  hears  the  name 
of  Britain  sounded  in  his  ears,  but  it  stirs  up  all  his  enthusi- 
asm in  behalf  of  the  worth  and  the  welfare  of  its  people — who 
gives  himself  up,  with  all  the  devotedness  of  a  passion,  to  the 
best  and  purest  objects  of  patriotism — and  who,  spurning 
away  from  him  the  vulgarities  of  party  ambition,  separates 
his  life  and  his  labors  to  the  fine  pursuit  of  augmenting  the 
science,  or  the  virtue,  or  the  substantial  prosperity  of  his  na- 
tion. Oh !  could  such  a  man  retain  all  the  tenderness,  and 
fulfil  all  the  duties  which  home  and  which  neighborhood  re- 
quire of  him,  and  at  the  same  time  expatiate,  in  the  might  of 
his  untired  faculties,  on  so  wide  a  field  of  benevolent  contem- 
plation— would  not  this  extension  of  reach  place  him  still 
higher  than  before,  on  the  scale  both  of  moral  and  intellectual 
gradation,  and  give  him  a  still  brighter  and  more  enduring 
name  in  the  records  of  human  excellence? 

And  lastly,  I  can  conceive  a  still  loftier  flight  of  humanity 
— a  man,  the  aspiring  of  whose  heart  for  the  good  of  man 
knows  no  limitations — whose  longings,  and  whose  conceptions 
on  this  subject,  overleap  all  the  barriers  of  geography — who, 


GOD'S   SYMPATHY   FOR   MAN  109 

looking  on  himself  as  a  brother  of  the  species,  links  every 
spare  energy  which  belongs  to  him  with  the  cause  of  its 
melioration — who  can  embrace  within  the  grasp  of  his  ample 
desires  the  whole  family  of  mankind — and  who,  in  obedience 
to  a  heaven-born  movement  of  principle  within  him,  separates 
himself  to  some  big  and  busy  enterprise,  which  is  to  tell  on 
the  moral  destinies  of  the  world.  Oh !  could  such  a  man  mix 
up  the  softenings  of  private  virtue  with  the  habit  of  so  sub- 
lime a  comprehension — if,  amid  those  magnificent  darings  of 
thought  and  of  performance,  the  mildness  of  his  benignant 
eye  could  still  continue  to  cheer  the  retreat  of  his  family, 
and  to  spread  the  charm  and  the  sacredness  of  piety  among 
all  its  members — could  he  even  mingle  himself,  in  all  the  gen- 
tleness of  a  soothed  and  a  smiling  heart,  with  the  playfulness 
of  his  children — and  also  find  strength  to  shed  blessings  of 
his  presence  and  his  counsel  over  the  vicinity  around  him ; 
oh  !  would  not  the  combination  of  so  much  grace  with  so  much 
loftiness,  only  serve  the  more  to  aggrandize  him?  Would 
not  the  one  ingredient  of  a  character  so  rare,  go  to  illustrate 
and  to  magnify  the  other?  And  would  not  you  pronounce 
him  to  be  the  fairest  specimen  of  our  nature,  who  could  so 
call  out  all  your  tenderness,  while  he  challenged  and  com- 
pelled all  your  veneration? 

Nor  can  I  proceed,  at  this  point  of  my  argument,  without 
adverting  to  the  way  in  which  this  last  and  this  largest  style 
of  benevolence  is  exemplified  in  our  own  country — where  the 
spirit  of  the  gospel  has  given  to  many  of  its  enlightened  dis- 
ciples the  impulse  of  such  a  philanthropy  as  carries  abroad 
their  wishes  and  their  endeavor  to  the  very  outskirts  of  human 
population — a  philanthropy,  of  which,  if  you  asked  the  extent 
or  the  boundary  of  its  field,  we  should  answer,  in  the  language 
of  inspiration,  that  the  field  is  the  world — a  philanthropy  which 
overlooks  all  the  distinctions  of  caste  and  of  color,  and  spreads 
its  ample  regards  over  the  whole  brotherhood  of  the  species 
— a  philanthropy  which  attaches  itself  to  man  in  the  general ; 
to  man  throughout  all  his  varieties ;  to  man  as  the  partaker 
of  one  common  nature,  and  who,  in  whatever  clime  or  latitude 
you  may  meet  with  him,  is  found  to  breathe  the  same  sym- 
pathies, and  to  possess  the  same  high  capabilities  both  of  bliss 
and  o/Q improvement.    It  is  true  that,  upon  this  subject,  there 


no  CHALMERS 

is  often  a  loose  and  unsettled  magnificence  of  thought,  which 
is  fruitful  of  nothing  but  empty  speculation.  But  the  men  to 
whom  I  allude  have  not  imaged  the  enterprise  in  the  form  of 
a  thing  unknown.  They  have  given  it  a  local  habitation.  They 
have  bodied  it  forth  in  deed  and  in  accomplishment.  They 
have  turned  the  dream  into  a  reality.  In  them,  the  power  of 
a  lofty  generalization  meets  with  its  happiest  attemperment 
in  the  principle  and  preservance,  and  all  the  chastening  and 
subduing  virtues  of  the  New  Testament.  And,  were  I  in 
search  of  that  fine  union  of  grace  and  of  greatness  which  I 
have  now  been  insisting  on,  and  in  virtue  of  which  the  en- 
lightened Christian  can  at  once  find  room  in  his  bosom  for 
the  concerns  of  universal  humanity,  and  for  the  play  of  kind- 
liness towards  every  individual  he  meets  with — I  could  no- 
where more  readily  expect  to  find  it,  than  with  the  worthies 
of  our  own  land — the  Howard  of  a  former  generation,  who 
paced  it  over  Europe  in  quest  of  the  unseen  wretchedness 
which  abounds  in  it — or  in  such  men  of  our  present  genera- 
tion as  Wilberforce,  who  lifted  his  unwearied  voice  against  the 
biggest  outrage  ever  practised  on  our  nature,  till  he  wrought 
its  extermination — and  Clarkson,  who  plied  his  assiduous  task 
at  rearing  the  materials  of  its  impressive  history,  and  at  length 
carried,  for  this  righteous  cause,  the  mind  of  Parliament — 
and  Carey,  from  whose  hand  the  generations  of  the  East  are 
now  receiving  the  elements  of  their  moral  renovation — and, 
in  fine,  those  holy  and  devoted  men,  who  count  not  their  lives 
dear  unto  them ;  but,  going  forth  every  year  from  the  island 
of  our  habitation,  carry  the  message  of  Heaven  over  the  face 
of  the  world ;  and  in  the  front  of  severest  obloquy  are  now 
laboring  in  remotest  lands ;  and  are  reclaiming  another  and 
another  portion  from  the  wastes  of  dark  and  fallen  humanity ; 
and  are  widening  the  domains  of  gospel  light  and  gospel  prin- 
ciple amongst  them  ;  and  are  spreading  a  moral  beauty  around 
the  every  spot  on  which  they  pitch  their  lowly  tabernacle ;  and 
are  at  length  compelling  even  the  eye  and  the  testimony  of 
gainsayers,  by  the  success  of  their  noble  enterprise ;  and  are 
forcing  the  exclamation  of  delighted  surprise  from  the  charmed 
and  the  arrested  traveller,  as  he  looks  at  the  softening  tints 
which  they  are  now  spreading  over  the  wilderness,  and  as  he 
hears  the  sound  of  the  chapel  bell,  and  as  in  those  haunts  ,  here. 


GODS   SYMPATHY    FOR   MAN  in 

at  the  distance  of  half  a  generation,  savages  would  have  scowled 
upon  his  path,  he  regales  himself  with  the  hum  of  mission- 
ary schools,  and  the  lovely  spectacle  of  peaceful  and  Christian 
villages. 

Such,  then,  is  the  benevolence,  at  once  so  gentle  and  so 
lofty,  of  those  men,  who,  sanctified  by  the  faith  that  is  in 
jesus,  have  had  their  hearts  visited  from  heaven  by  a  beam 
of  warmth  and  of  sacredness.  What,  then,  I  should  like  to 
know,  is  the  benevolence  of  the  place  from  whence  such  an 
influence  cometh  ?  How  wide  is  the  compass  of  this  virtue 
there,  and  how  exquisite  is  the  feeling  of  its  tenderness,  and 
how  pure  and  how  fervent  are  its  aspirings  among  those  un- 
fallen  beings  who  have  no  darkness,  and  no  encumbering 
weight  of  corruption  to  strive  against !  Angels  have  a  mightier 
reach  of  contemplation.  Angels  can  look  upon  this  world, 
and  all  which  it  inherits,  as  the  part  of  a  larger  family.  Angels 
were  in  the  full  exercise  of  their  powers  even  at  the  first  in- 
fancy of  our  species,  and  shared  in  the  gratulations  of  that 
period,  when  at  the  birth  of  humanity  all  intelligent  nature 
felt  a  gladdening  impulse,  and  the  morning  stars  sang  togethef 
for  joy.  They  loved  us  even  with  the  love  which  a  family  on 
earth  bears  to  a  younger  sister ;  and  the  very  childhood  of  our 
tinier  faculties  did  only  serve  the  more  to  endear  us  to  them ; 
and  though  born  at  a  later  hour  in  the  history  of  creation,  did 
they  regard  us  as  heirs  of  the  same  destiny  with  themselves, 
to  rise  along  with  them  in  the  scale  of  moral  elevation,  to  bow 
at  the  same  footstool,  and  to  partake  in  those  high  dispensa- 
tions of  a  parent's  kindness  and  a  parent's  care,  which  are 
ever  emanating  from  the  throne  of  the  Eternal  on  all  the  mem- 
bers of  a  duteous  and  affectionate  family.  Take  the  reach  of 
an  angel's  mind,  but,  at  the  same  time,  take  the  seraphic  fervor 
of  an  angel's  benevolence  along' with  it;  how,  from  the  emi- 
nence on  which  he  stands  he  may  have  an  eye  upon  many 
worlds,  and  a  remembrance  upon  the  origin  and  the  succes- 
sive concerns  of  every  one  of  them ;  how  he  may  feel  the  full 
force  of  a  most  affecting  relationship  with  the  inhabitants  of 
each,  as  the  offspring  of  one  common  Father ;  and  though  it 
be  both  the  effect  and  the  evidence  of  our  depravity,  that  we 
cannot  sympathize  with  these  pure  and  generous  ardors  of  a 
celestial  spirit ;  how  it  may  consist  with  the  lofty  comprehen- 


lis  CHALMERS 

sion,  and  the  ever-breathing  love  of  an  angel,  that  he  can  both 
shoot  his  benevolence  abroad  over  a  mighty  expanse  of  planets 
and  of  systems,  and  lavish  a  flood  of  tenderness  on  each  in- 
dividual of  their  teeming  population. 

Keep  all  this  in  view,  and  you  cannot  fail  to  perceive  how 
the  principle,  so  finely  and  so  copiously  illustrated  in  this 
chapter,  may  be  brought  to  meet  the  infidelity  we  have  thus 
long  been  employed  in  combating.  It  was  nature — and  the 
experience  of  every  bosom  will  affirm  it — it  was  nature  in  the 
shepherd  to  leave  the  ninety-and-nine  of  his  flock  forgotten 
and  alone  in  the  wilderness,  and,  betaking  himself  to  the  moun- 
tains, to  give  all  his  labor  and  all  his  concern  to  the  pursuit  of 
one  solitary  wanderer.  It  was  nature ;  and  we  are  told  in  the 
passage  before  us,  that  it  is  such  a  portion  of  nature  as  belongs 
not  merely  to  men,  but  to  angels ;  when  the  woman,  with  her 
mind  in  a  state  of  listlessness  as  to  the  nine  pieces  of  silver 
that  were  in  secure  custody,  turned  the  whole  force  of  her 
anxiety  to  the  one  piece  which  she  had  lost,  and  for  which  she 
had  to  light  a  candle,  and  to  sweep  the  house,  and  to  search 
diligently  until  she  found  it.  It  was  nature  in  her  to  rejoice 
more  over  that  piece,  than  over  all  the  rest  of  them,  and  to 
tell  it  abroad  among  friends  and  neighbors,  that  they  might 
rejoice  along  with  her — ay,  and  sadly  effaced  as  humanity  is, 
in  all  her  original  lineaments,  this  is  a  part  of  our  nature,  the 
very  movements  of  which  are  experienced  in  heaven,  "  where 
there  is  more  joy  over  one  sinner  that  repenteth,  than  over 
ninety-and-nine  just  persons  who  need  no  repentance."  For 
anything  I  know,  the  every  planet  that  rolls  in  the  immensity 
around  me  may  be  a  land  of  righteousness ;  and  be  a  member 
of  the  household  of  God ;  and  have  her  secure  dwelling-place 
within  that  ample  limit  which  embraces  His  great  and  uni- 
versal family.  But  I  know  at  least  of  one  wanderer ;  and  how 
wofully  she  has  strayed  from  peace  and  purity ;  and  how  in 
dreary  alienation  from  Him  who  made  her,  she  has  bewildered 
herself  amongst  those  many  devious  tracts,  which  have  carried 
her  afar  from  the  path  of  immortality ;  and  how  sadly  tar- 
nished all  those  beauties  and  felicities  are,  which  promised, 
on  that  morning  of  her  existence  when  God  looked  on  her, 
and  saw  that  all  was  very  good — which  promised  so  richly  to 
bless  and  to  adorn  her ;  and  how,  in  the  eye  of  the  whole  un- 


GOD'S   SYMPATHY   FOR   MAN  II3 

fallen  creation,  she  has  renounced  all  this  goodliness,  and  is 
fast  departing  away  from  them  into  guilt,  and  wretchedness, 
and  shame.  Oh !  if  there  be  any  truth  in  this  chapter,  and  any 
sweet  or  touching  nature  in  the  principle  which  runs  through- 
out all  its  parables,  let  us  cease  to  wonder,  though  they  who 
surround  the  throne  of  love  should  be  looking  so  intently 
towards  us — or  though,  in  the  way  by  which  they  have  singled 
us  out,  all  the  other  orbs  of  space  should,  for  one  short  season, 
on  the  scale  of  eternity,  appear  to  be  forgotten — or  though, 
for  every  step  of  her  recovery,  and  for  every  individual  who  is 
rendered  back  again  to  the  fold  from  which  he  was  separated, 
another  and  another  message  of  triumph  should  be  made  to 
circulate  amongst  the  hosts  of  paradise — or  though,  lost  as 
we  are,  and  sunk  in  depravity  as  we  are,  all  the  sympathies  of 
heaven  should  now  be  awake  on  the  enterprise  of  Him  who 
has  travailed,  in  the  greatness  of  His  strength,  to  seek  and  to 
save  us. 

And  here  I  cannot  but  remark  how  fine  a  harmony  there 
is  between  the  law  of  sympathetic  nature  in  heaven  and  the 
most  touching  exhibitions  of  it  on  the  face  of  our  world.  When 
one  of  a  numerous  household  droops  under  the  power  of  dis- 
ease, is  not  that  the  one  to  whom  all  the  tenderness  is  turned, 
and  who,  in  a  manner,  monopolizes  the  inquiries  of  his  neigh- 
borhood, and  the  care  of  his  family?  When  the  sighing  of 
the  midnight  storm  sends  a  dismal  foreboding  into  the  mother's 
heart,  to  whom  of  all  her  offspring,  I  would  ask,  are  her 
thoughts  and  her  anxieties  then  wandering?  Is  it  not  to  her 
sailor  boy  whom  her  fancy  has  placed  amid  the  rude  and  angry 
surges  of  the  ocean?  Does  not  this,  the  hour  of  his  appre- 
hended danger,  concentrate  upon  him  the  whole  force  of  her 
wakeful  meditations  ?  And  does  not  he  engross,  for  a  season, 
her  every  sensibility,  and  her  every  prayer?  We  sometimes 
hear  of  shipwrecked  passengers  thrown  upon  a  barbarous 
shore  ;  and  seized  upon  by  its  prowling  inhabitants ;  and  hur- 
ried away  through  the  tracks  of  a  dreary  and  unknown  wil- 
derness ;  and  sold  into  captivity ;  and  loaded  with  the  fetters 
of  irrecoverable  bondage;  and  who,  stripped  of  every  other 
liberty  but  the  liberty  of  thought,  feel  even  this  to  be  another 
ingredient  of  wretchedness,  for  what  can  they  think  of  but 
home,  and  as  all  its  kind  and  tender  imagery  comes  upon  their 
remembrance,  how  can  they  think  of  it  but  in  the  bitterness  of 
Vol.  II.— 8 


ii4  CHALMERS 

despair?  Oh,  tell  me,  when  the  fame  of  all  this  disaster  reaches 
his  family,  who  is  the  member  of  it  to  whom  is  directed  the 
full  tide  of  its  griefs  and  of  its  sympathies?  Who  is  it  that, 
for  weeks  and  for  months,  usurps  their  every  feeling,  and  calls 
out  their  largest  sacrifices,  and  sets  them  to  the  busiest  ex- 
pedients for  getting  him  back  again?  Who  is  it  that  makes 
them  forgetful  of  themselves  and  of  all  around  them ;  and  tell 
me  if  you  can  assign  a  limit  to  the  pains,  and  the  exertions, 
and  the  surrenders  which  afflicted  parents  and  weeping  sisters 
would  make  to  seek  and  to  save  him  ? 

Now  conceive,  as  we  are  warranted  to  do  by  the  parables 
of  this  chapter,  the  principle  of  all  these  earthly  exhibitions  to 
be  in  full  operation  around  the  throne  of  God.  Conceive  the 
universe  to  be  one  secure  and  rejoicing  family,  and  that  this 
alienated  world  is  the  only  strayed,  or  only  captive  member 
belonging  to  it ;  and  we  shall  cease  to  wonder,  that  from  the 
first  period  of  the  captivity  of  our  species,  down  to  the  con- 
summation of  their  history  in  time,  there  should  be  such  a 
movement  in  heaven ;  or  that  angels  should  so  often  have  sped 
their  commissioned  way  on  the  errand  of  our  recovery ;  or 
that  the  Son  of  God  should  have  bowed  Himself  down  to  the 
burden  of  our  mysterious  atonement ;  or  that  the  spirit  of 
God  should  now,  by  the  busy  variety  of  His  all-powerful  in- 
fluences, be  carrying  forward  that  dispensation  of  grace  which 
is  to  make  us  meet  for  readmittance  into  the  mansions  of  the 
celestial.  Only  think  of  love  as  the  reigning  principle  there ; 
of  love,  as  sending  forth  its  energies  and  aspirations  to  the 
quarter  where  its  object  is  most  in  danger  of  being  forever 
lost  to  it;  of  love,  as  called  forth  by  this  single  circumstance 
o  its  uttermost  exertion,  and  the  most  exquisite  feeling  of  its 
■tenderness;  and  then  shall  we  come  to  a  distinct  and  familiar 
explanation  of  this  whole  mystery.  Nor  shall  we  resist  by 
our  incredulity  the  gospel  message  any  longer,  though  it  tells 
us  that  throughout  the  whole  of  this  world's  history,  long  in 
our  eyes,  but  only  a  little  month  in  the  high  periods  of  im- 
mortality, so  much  of  the  vigilance,  and  so  much  of  the  ear- 
nestness of  heaven,  should  have  been  expended  on  the  recovery 
of  its  guilty  population. 

There  is  another  touching  trait  of  nature,  which  goes  finely 
to  heighten  this  principle,  and  still  more  forcibly  to  demon- 
strate its  application  to  our  present  argument.     So  long  as 


GOD'S   SYMPATHY    FOR    MAN  115 

the  dying  child  of  David  was  alive,  he  was  kept  on  the  stretch 
of  anxiety  and  of  suffering  with  regard  to  it.  When  it  ex-, 
pired,  he  arose  and  comforted  himself.  This  narrative  of  King 
David  is  in  harmony  with  all  that  we  experience  of  our  own 
movements,  and  our  own  sensibilities.  It  is  the  power  of  un- 
certainty which  gives  them  so  active  and  so  interesting  a  play 
in  our  bosoms ;  and  which  heightens  all  our  regards  to  a  ten- 
fold pitch  of  feeling  and  of  exercise ;  and  which  fixes  down 
our  watchfulness  upon  our  infant's  dying  bed ;  and  which 
keeps  us  so  painfully  alive  to  every  turn  and  to  every  symptom 
in  "the  progress  of  its  malady;  and  which  draws  out  all  our 
affections  for  it  to  a  degree  of  intensity  that  is  quite  unutter- 
able; and  which  urges  us  on  to  ply  our  every  effort  and  our 
every  expedient,  till  hope  withdraw  its  lingering  beam,  or 
till  death  shut  the  eyes  of  our  beloved  in  the  slumber  of  its 
long  and  its  last  repose. 

I  know  not  who  of  you  have  your  names  written  in  the 
book  of  life — nor  can  I  tell  if  this  be  known  to  the  angels  which 
are  in  heaven.  While  in  the  land  of  living  men,  you  are  under 
the  power  and  application  of  a  remedy,  which,  if  taken  as  the 
gospel  prescribes,  will  renovate  the  soul,  and  altogether  pre- 
pare it  for  the  bloom  and  the  vigor  of  immortality.  Wonder 
not  then  that  with  this  principle  of  uncertainty  in  such  full 
operation,  ministers  should  feel  for  you ;  or  angels  should  feel 
for  you ;  or  all  the  sensibilities  of  heaven  should  be  awake 
upon  the  symptoms  of  your  grace  and  reformation ;  or  the 
eyes  of  those  who  stand  upon  the  high  eminences  of  the  celestial 
world,  should  be  so  earnestly  fixed  on  the  every  footstep  and 
new  evolution  of  your  moral  history.  Such  a  consideration 
as  this  should  do  something  more  than  silence  the  infidel  ob- 
jection. It  should  give  a  practical  effect  to  the  calls  of  re- 
pentance. How  wall  it  go  to  aggravate  the  whole  guilt  of  our 
impenitency,  should  we  stand  out  against  the  power  and  the 
tenderness  of  these  manifold  applications — the  voice  of  a  be- 
seeching God  upon  us — the  word  of  salvation  at  our  very  door 
— the  free  offer  of  strength  and  of  acceptance  sounded  in  our 
hearing — the  spirit  in  readiness  with  His  agency  to  meet  our 
every  desire  and  our  every  inquiry — angels  beckoning  us  to 
their  company — and  the  very  first  movements  of  our  awakened 
conscience  drawing  upon  us  all  their  regards  and  all  their 
earnestness ! 


ARBITRATION 


BY 


LORD    PALMERSTON 

(Henry  John  Temple) 


HENRY  JOHN  TEMPLE,  VISCOUNT  PALMERSTON 

1784— 1865 

There  was  an  Irish  strain  in  Henry  John  Temple,  Viscount  Palmer- 
ston,  which  colored  his  character,  and  without  which  he  would  very  likely 
have  failed  to  impress  himself  upon  the  imagination  of  the  English 
people.  His  intellectual  abilities  were  not  extraordinary ;  but  there  was 
an  easy  jollity  about  him,  an  audacity,  or  faculty  of  "  bluff,"  which, 
in  combination  with  more  commonplace  qualities,  and  with  remark- 
able good  fortune,  not  always  deserved,  made  him  a  leading  figure 
in  English  politics  for  many  years,  and,  during  the  last  ten  years  of 
his  long  life.  Prime  Minister.  He  loved  the  bustle  of  affairs,  and  had 
the  power  of  applying  himself  diligently  to  business;  or  at  all  events — 
what  for  practical  purposes  was  almost  as  good,  if  not  better — of  seem- 
ing busy ;  so  that  men  his  superiors  in  intellect,  but  less  active  and 
omnipresent,  delegated  important  functions  to  him,  and  placed  a  con- 
fidence in  him  which  he  was  clever  enough  not  to  forfeit,  even  when 
he  did  not  fairly  merit  it.  Upon  the  whole,  he  was  a  man  of  prodigious 
native  talent,  and  his  position  in  life  gave  him  an  immense  experience; 
he  dominated  or  silenced  men  far  his  superiors  in  real  ability  by  his 
humorous  savoir-faire  and  cool  imperturbability.  The  people  made  a 
pet  of  him;  he  was  known  to  them  as  few  public  men  have  been, 
largely  owing  to  the  caricatures  of  John  Tenniel  in  "  Punch,"  which 
hit  off  his  happy-go-lucky  air  and  optimistic  temperament,  his  shrewd- 
ness, his  shallowness,  and  his  knowingness,  in  a  way  which  captivated 
the  general  fancy,  and  made  him  immensely  popular. 

Palmerston  was  born  at  the  family  estate  of  Broadlands  in  1784,  and 
died  at  Brocket  Hall  in  Hertfordshire  in  1865.  The  Temple  family  had 
an  English  and  an  Irish  branch,  and  Palmerston  belonged  to  the  latter. 
He  went  to  Harrow  School ;  afterwards  he  went  to  the  University  of 
Edinburgh ;    and  matriculated  at  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge. 

His  father  died  in  1802,  and  he  inherited  his  title  and  the  family  es- 
tates. In  1807  he  took  his  seat  in  Parliament  as  member  for  Newtown, 
Isle  of  Wight,  and  held  office  as  Junior  Lord  of  the  Admiralty  under  the 
Duke  of  Portland.  From  1809  fo  1828  he  was  Secretary  of  War.  Taking 
Pitt  for  his  political  ideal,  he  was  a  consistent  Tory,  and  favored  the 
emancipation  of  th<  Roman  Catholics.  But  when  Lord  Grey  came  into 
power  in  1830,  he  embraced  Whiggism,  and  made  a  reputation  in  foreign 
affairs,  being  active  in  the  policy  which  placed  Leopold  of  Saxe-Coburg 
on  the  Belgian  throne.  After  1840  he  went  out  of  office  for  five  years; 
but  became  prominent  again  under  Lord  John  Russell,  and  expressed  his 
sympathy  with  the  revolutionary  party  which  was  so  much  in  evidence 
on  the  Continent  in  those  days.  His  dallying  with  Louis  Napoleon 
caused  him  to  be  dismissed  from  the  foreign  office;  but  he  came  in  once 
more  with  Aberdeen  in  1853.  In  1855  he  became  Prime  Minister,  thus 
shouldering  the  responsibility  of  the  Crimean  War.  He  retained  the 
office  of  Prime  Minister,  with  the  interval  of  Lord  Derby's  administra- 
tion in   1858,  until  his  death. 

His  discourses  were  business-like,  off-hand  affairs,  such  as  business 
men  address  to  one  another.  His  self-confidence  bred  confidence  in  his 
hearers,  and  prompted  them  to  believe  that  he  could  do  anything,  and 
would  never  be  at  the  end  of  his  resources.  It  was  not  so  much  by 
peeches  as  by  his  management  of  debates,  and  by  his  work  behind 
the  scenes,  that  he  produced  his  results  and  carried  his  purposes.  His 
speech  on  "  Arbitration  "  is  an  excellent  example  of  his  practical, 
common-sense  manner  of  reasoning  on  public  affairs. 

118 


ARBITRATION 

Delivered  in  the  House  of  Commons,  June  12,  1849 

SIR,  I  beg  to  assure  my  honorable  friend,  the  member  for 
the  West  Riding,  that  in  rising  to  state  my  intention  of 
opposing  his  motion,  I  am  far  from  wishing  to  speak 
either  of  the  sentiments  he  has  himself  expressed,  or  of  the 
opinions  of  those  whose  organ  he  is,  with  anything  but  the 
greatest  possible  respect.  I  entirely  agree  with  my  honorable 
friend,  and  with  those  of  whose  opinion  he  has  been  on  this 
occasion  the  organ,  in  attributing  the  utmost  possible  value  to 
this  motion,  and  in  feeling  the  greatest  dislike,  and  I  may  say 
horror,  of  war  in  any  shape.  I  will  not  go  into  those  common- 
place remarks  which  must  be  familiar  to  the  mind  of  every  man 
who  has  contrasted  the  calamities  of  war  with  the  various 
blessings  and  advantages  which  attend  upon  peace.  I  cannot 
conceive  that  there  exists  in  this  country  the  man  who  does  not 
attach  the  utmost  value  to  the  blessings  of  peace,  and  who 
would  not  make  the  greatest  sacrifices  to  save  his  country  from 
the  calamities  attendant  upon  war.  And  although  I  differ  from 
my  honorable  friend,  and  although  I  am  not  ready  to  accede  to 
his  motion,  yet  I  cannot  say  but  that  I  am  glad  he  has  made 
that  proposition,  because  it  will  be  useful  for  this  country  and 
for  Europe  at  large  that  every  man  should  know  that  in  this 
assembly,  and  among  the  vast  masses  of  men  of  whom  we  are 
the  representatives,  there  is  a  sincere  and  honest  disposition 
to  maintain  peace.  But  that  which  I  wish  to  guard  against 
— the  impression  that  I  wish  should  not  be  entertained  any- 
where, either  in  this  country  or  out  of  it — is  that  while 
there  is  in  England  a  fervent  love  of  peace,  an  anxious  and 
steady  desire  to  maintain  it,  there  should-  not  exist  the  im- 
pression that  the  manly  spirit  of  Englishmen    is    dead — that 

119 


120  LORD    PALMERSTON 

England  is  not  ready,  as  she  is  ever,  to  repel  aggression  and 
resent  injury,  and  that  she  is  ready  to  defend  her  rights,  al- 
though she  never  will  he  found  acting  aggressively  against  any 
other  power.  Sir,  it  would  be  most  dangerous  indeed  to  the 
interests  of  peace  that  a  contrary  opinion  should  prevail.  I  can 
conceive  nothing  that  would  bring  more  into  jeopardy  the 
peaceful  relations  of  this  country,  than  that  an  idea  should  pre- 
vail among  foreign  nations,  that  we  are  so  attached  to  peace 
that  we  dare  not  make  war,  and  that,  therefore,  any  aggression 
or  any  injury  may  be  safely  ventured  against  English  subjects, 
because  England  has  such  a  rooted  aversion  to  war  that  she  will 
not  repel  it.  That  is  the  principle  on  which  I  differ  from  the  ob- 
servations made  by  my  honorable  friend,  when  he  condemned 
those  provident  supplies — so  I  may  call  them — for  military 
defence,  which  he  said,  he  had  found  by  his  examination  in  a 
committee  above  stairs  had  been  laid  up  in  store  by  this  and  the 
last  Government.  I  quite  agree  with  those  who  think  that  it  is 
a  useless  expenditure  of  the  public  money  to  keep  in  pay  an  ex- 
cessive number  of  men,  either  by  sea  or  by  land,  beyond  what 
the  existing  service  of  the  country  may  demand,  on  an  imagin- 
ary expectation  of  future  and  contingent  hostilities.  I  think 
that  is  a  wasteful  application  of  the  public  money,  but  I  cannot 
go  along  with  the  honorable  member  in  condemning  that  prov- 
ident provision  of  things  which  cannot  be  created  at  a  moment's 
notice — which  would  be  necessary  if  we  were  called  on  to  de- 
fend ourselves  from  foreign  aggression — and  the  absence  of 
which,  if  known  to  foreign  countries,  would  form  an  incitement 
and  temptation  to  commit  wrong  against  this  country.  There- 
fore I  think  that  a  Government  acts  wisely  and  prudently  when 
they  gradually  and  without  overstraining  the  burden  on  the 
country,  lay  up  a  store  of  those  things  which  may  be  wanted 
on  the  first  outbreak  of  war,  if  it  should  unfortunately  occur, 
and  which  must  be  provided  beforehand,  while  they  abstain 
from  useless  augmentations  of  men,  which  can  be  raised  when 
the  emergency  arises,  and  in  a  short  period  would  be  just  as 
effective  as  if  they  had  been  longer  in  military  training.  Sir, 
I  cannot  agree  with  the  proposal  of  my  honorable  friend  be- 
cause I  think  it  is  founded  on  an  erroneous  principle,  and  that 
it  would  be  impracticable  if  attempted  to  be  carried  out.  My 
honorable  friend  comes  to  his  conclusion  by  an  analogy  which 


ARBITRATION  121 

he  draws  between  private  life  and  the  intercourse  of  nations. 
He  says,  in  the  ordinary  transactions  between  man  and  man, 
what  is  so  common  as  an  agreement  between  individuals,  that 
in  the  event  of  disputes  occurring  they  shall  be  referred  to  ar- 
bitration? It  is  very  true  that  is  a  common  and  very  advan- 
tageous practice,  but  how  stand  these  individuals  ?  Why,  if  the 
sentence  of  arbitration  is  not  conformable  to  the  opinion  of 
both  parties  there  is  a  higher  and  superior  authority — the  au- 
thority of  some  legal  tribunal,  which  enforces  concurrence ;  to 
that  tribunal  the  parties  previously  agree  to  submit,  and  it  is 
this  superior  force  that  gives  value  and  efficacy  to  the  agree- 
ment for  arbitration.  But  my  honorable  friend  at  once  per- 
ceives, and  fairly  acknowledges,  that  that  element  is  wanting 
in  the  machine  by  which  he  proposes  to  settle  international 
differences ;  and  unless  we  have  recourse  to  the  plan  of  my 
honorable  friend  who  spoke  last  for  a  general  tribunal  of  na- 
tions, with  a  military  force  to  compel  compliance  with  its  de- 
crees, it  is  plain  that  the  arbitration  of  my  honorable  friend 
the  member  for  the  West  Riding  would,  in  truth,  simply,  and 
in  most  cases,  resolve  itself  into  mediation,  that  is,  the  proposal 
by  a  third  party  of  an  arrangement  of  differences  between  two 
other  parties.  Honorable  members  ought  not  to  lose  sight  of 
the  distinction,  which  is  frequently  forgotten,  between  arbitra- 
tion and  mediation — arbitration  consisting  in  the  pronouncing 
of  a  final  decision  by  a  third  party  which  is  to  be  binding  on  the 
other  two ;  mediation  consisting  in  the  good  offices  of  a  third 
party  to  bring  about,  by  the  consent  and  acquiescence  of  the 
other  two,  an  amicable  termination  of  differences  that  may  have 
arisen  between  them.  Now,  sir.  my  honorable  friend  is  so  in- 
ternally aware  of  the  difficulty  attending  the  practical  execution 
of  his  own  idea,  that  he  has  been  obliged  to  abandon  that  which 
most  persons  imagined  to  be  his  plan. 

[Mr.  Cobden  here  said:  I  beg  pardon;  I  never  altered  or 
abandoned  my  motion  in  the  slightest  degree.] 

Viscount  Palmerston :  I  will  not  say  my  honorable  friend 
has  abandoned,  but  he  has  been  obliged  not  to  propose,  what 
many  persons,  myself  included,  imagined  to  be  his  plan — 
namely,  that  the  court  of  arbitration  should  consist  of  some 
foreign  government  or  governments  :  in  turning  over  the  mat- 
ter, and  bringing  it  to  a  practical  bearing,  he  has  found  it  neces- 


122  LORD   PALMERSTON 

sary  to  substitute  commissions  taken  from  private  life.  Now, 
sir,  it  is  obvious  that  that  which  would  be  to  any  person  think- 
ing of  this  matter  for  the  first  time  the  natural  arrangement — 
and  whenever  the  principle  of  my  honorable  friend  has  been 
acted  upon  the  plan  that  has  been  fully  practised — is  that  of 
making  the  arbitrator  the  government  of  some  foreign  state. 
The  plan  of  my  honorable  friend,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  has  never 
been  attempted.  It  is  perfectly  true  that  there  are  cases  in  which 
arbitration  has  been  resorted  to,  but  in  those  cases  the  arbitra- 
tor chosen  has  been  a  sovereign  or  a  government ;  in  no  case 
has  final  arbitration  been  consented  to  resting  on  private  indi- 
viduals. What  are  the  reasons  why  my  honorable  friend  ab- 
stained from  that  proposal  which  was  generally  expected  to 
come  from  him  on  the  present  occasion  ?  My  honorable  friend 
who  has  just  sat  down  said  that  it  would  be  a  very  desirable 
thing  if  an  European  tribunal  could  be  composed  that  would  act 
invariably  on  the  principle  of  justice  and  of  right,  which  would 
always  give  equitable  decisions,  and  which  of  course,  should 
have  force  to  compel  acquiescence  in  its  judgments ;  but  un- 
fortunately the  world  is  not  yet  come  to  that  happy  state  of 
things.  If  you  could  find  the  governments  of  Europe  all  per- 
fectly just,  perfectly  impartial,  perfectly  disinterested,  and,  by 
the  possession  of  these  qualities  competent  to  form  the  tri- 
bunal my  honorable  friend  imagines,  why,  such  a  tribunal 
would  supersede  itself;  because  if  all  governments  were 
perfectly  just,  impartial,  and  disinterested,  they  would  settle 
any  little  disputes  that  might  arise  between  their  respective 
subjects  without  having  recourse  to  the  extreme  of  war,  which 
this  tribunal  was  intended  to  prevent.  But,  unfortunately,  it 
so  happens  that  in  the  present  imperfect  condition  of  human 
nature,  governments,  like  individuals,  are  actuated  by  un- 
founded and  suspicious  jealousies  of  each  other — by  that 
which,  in  men,  is  called  covetousness,  which  in  nations  is  called 
ambition — by  interested  motives  of  various  kinds,  interests  con- 
flicting with  each  other;  and  it  is  a  matter  so  difficult  that  it 
may  almost  be  deemed  impossible  to  find,  in  a  quarrel  between 
two  nations,  a  tliird  party  whose  judgment  each  of  the  two 
contending  parties  would  place  confidence  in.  If  you  were  to 
propose  to  the  governments  of  Europe  to  enter  now,  to-day  or 
to-morrow,  into  a  prospective  agreement  that  in  cases  of  differ- 


ARBITRATION 


123 


ence  they  would  submit  their  disputes  to  any  third  party  to  be 
named  now  or  to  be  named  afterwards — if  the  engagement 
were  that  the  third  party  should  be  named  now,  you  never 
would  get  them  to  consent ;  and  if  the  engagement  were  to 
name  the  third  party  when  the  dispute  arose,  you  would  have 
made  very  little  progress  towards  the  establishment  of  your  ar- 
bitration. There  is  one  case  where  a  dispute  arose  between  this 
country  and  the  government  of  the  United  States,  with  respect 
to  the  Maine  boundary,  which  was  by  the  Treaty  of  Ghent  sub- 
mitted to  arbitration.  My  honorable  friend  would  have  said, 
"  You  only  want  geographers  for  such  a  purpose ;  two  mem- 
bers of  the  Geographical  Society  have  only  to  draw  the  line, 
and  there  it  is."  But  my  honorable  friend  can  hardly  imagine 
how  much  time  elapsed  before  we  could  come  to  any  agreement 
as  to  the  choice  of  the  sovereign  who  was  to  be  the  arbitrator  in 
that  case,  which  certainly  is  not  a  happy  illustration  of  the  re- 
sults of  arbitration  ;  because  the  King  of  the  Netherlands,  hav- 
ing been  chosen  by  the  two  powers  as  arbitrator  in  that  differ- 
ence, did  after  a  very  long  period  of  time,  pronounce  an  award, 
which  the  United  States,  not  finding  suitable  to  their  notions 
of  the  terms  of  reference,  refused  to  submit  to  ;  the  matter  was 
left  in  a  worse  condition  than  before  the  arbitration  began  ; 
and  if  that  arbitration  did  not  lead  to  war,  I  can  assure  my  hon- 
orable friend  it  was  no  merit  of  the  principle  of  arbitration,  but 
only  because  the  two  governments  were  mutually  inspired  by 
a  most  intense  desire  to  settle  the  question  without  having  re- 
course to  arms.  Well,  then,  I  say,  if  my  honorable  friend  had 
proposed,  as  men  generally  thought  he  intended  to  propose,  a 
court  of  arbitration,  to  consist  of  some  third  or  foreign  govern- 
ments, the  answer  wouki  have  been  that  the  mutual  jealousies 
of  governments,  the  rivalry  of  conflicting  interests,  the — I  was 
going  to  say — intrigues,  but  the  hostile  policy  of  nations  to- 
wards each  other,  would  make  it,  I  am  satisfied,  perfectly  im- 
possible to  bring  countries  to  acquiesce  in  the  prospective  ar- 
rangement, and  I,  for  one,  must  say,  it  would  be  dangerous  to 
the  interests  of  this  country  to  submit  the  vital  rights  and  in- 
terests of  England  to  the  chances  of  a  decision  by  the  judgment 
of  any  foreign  power.  Well,  but  my  honorable  friend  very 
wisely  steers  clear  of  that  difficulty,  and  proposes  the  appoint- 
ment of  commissioners.  I  am  not  sure  that  I  quite  comprehend 


I24  LORD    PALMERSTON 

the  proposal  of  my  honorable  friend,  but  he  will  correct  me  if  I 
am  wrong.  I  understand  him  to  propose  that  a  treaty  should 
be  made  containing  a  stipulation  that,  in  the  event  of  differ- 
ences, each  government  should  name  commissioners  of  its  own 
to  discuss  the  point  at  issue,  and  that  they,  either  before  they 
met,  or  after  they  met,  should  name  some  third  person  not  in 
the  employment  of  either  government ;  but  a  man  of  science, 
or  a  man  in  private  life,  to  be  the  arbitrator  between  the  com- 
missioners in  case  they  should  not  be  able  to  agree.  That,  so 
far  as  I  understood,  was  the  manner  in  which  the  proposal  of  my 
honorable  friend  was  to  be  carried  out.  Now,  sir,  if  it  is  ob- 
jectionable, as  I  think  it  is,  to  commit  the  interests  of  a  great 
country  to  the  decision  of  what  may  be  a  rival  power,  upon 
matters  of  vital  interest,  or  upon  matters  concerning  most  im- 
portant and  essential  rights,  I  must  say  my  objection  to  submit 
such  matters  to  the  arbitration  and  final  decision  of  a  third 
party  would  not  be  removed  by  substituting  for  a  government, 
which  at  least  is  a  public  and  responsible  body,  persons  irre- 
sponsible and  taken  from  private  life.  At  all  events,  a  govern- 
ment acts  in  the  face  of  the  world  ;  it  is  accustomed  to  deal  with 
matters  of  the  kind  submitted  to  it  for  decision  ;  but  if  you  take 
a  man  from  private  life  he  is  perfectly  irresponsible  in  any  pub- 
lic way ;  his  habits  and  pursuits  may  have  been  very  different 
from  those  that  would  qualify  for  the  decision  of  questions  sub- 
mitted to  him  ;  in  my  humble  opinion  almost  all  the  same  ob- 
jections would  apply,  and  other  objections  apply  which  would 
not  apply  to  a  government.  There  was  one  instance,  to  be  sure, 
to  show  that  these  learned  men  are  not  always  persons  who  are 
the  readiest  to  come  to  a  decision  on  a  simple  matter.  There  is 
one  well  known  problem  the  difficulty  of  solving  which  is  uni- 
versally acknowledged.  No  one  denies  the  difficulty  of  finding 
the  longitude.  But  if  a  man  be  required  to  ascertain  the  latitude 
of  any  given  place,  or  the  position  of  any  parallel  of  latitude,  it 
it  deemed  to  be  a  very  simple  process.  Now,  by  the  Treaty  of 
Ghent,  the  commissioners  appointed  to  settle  the  boundary  dis- 
pute were  to  trace  a  line  which  should  coincide  with  or  come 
within  a  specified  distance  of  a  certain  given  parallel  of  latitude. 
Of  course  it  will  be  said  that  nothing  could  be  more  easy  than 
that ;  nothing  was  easier,  it  might  be  said,  than  to  appoint  two 
geographers  as  two  commissioners,  who  would  at  once  deter- 


ARBITRATION 


"5 


mine  the  matter,  it  being  the  simplest  thing  possible  ;  they  had 
only  their  boundary  to  mark  along  the  line  indicated  by  the 
treaty :  that  was  precisely  the  sort  of  thing  that  suited  the  views 
of  my  honorable  friend  the  member  for  the  West  Riding — noth- 
ing seemed  easier  than  to  find  two  learned  men  such  as  he 
would  elect,  and  put  them  at  once  to  find  the  parallel  of  latitude. 
But  it  so  happened  that  there  was  not  a  chance  of  agreeing  upon 
any  such  point,  for  one  maintained  that  the  parallel  was  to  de- 
pend upon  calculations  commencing  at  the  centre  of  the  earth, 
and  the  other  that  the  computations  were  to  be  made  from  the 
centre  of  the  sun ;  they  were,  therefore,  as  far  apart  as  the  earth 
from  the  sun — they  were  further  than  the  poles  asunder — they 
were  unable  to  agree  about  that  which  might  be  settled  at  once 
by  anyone  who  was  able  to  set  a  village  sun-dial.  Neither  Baron 
von  Humboldt  nor  Professor  Tiarcks,  who  was  associated  with 
him  in  the  undertaking,  could  arrive  at  any  satisfactory  re- 
sult.  [Mr.  Cobden:  The  question  is  settled.]   True,  but  not  by 
geographers.  However,  I  feel  assured  that  the  House  will  agree 
with  me  when  I  say  that  it  would  not  be  safe  to  trust  such  inter- 
ests as  those,  or  at  all  events  such  interests  as  usually  give  rise 
to  differences  between  nations — it  would  not  be  safe  to  leave 
them  to  arbitration ;    and,  though  the  matter  was  eventually 
settled  in  the  usual  way,  I  do  think  that  the  case  is  less  of  an  ex- 
ample to  be  followed,  than  of  a  beacon  to  be  avoided.  Then  m 
honorable  friend  says  there  is  nothing  new  at  bottom  in  the 
proposition  which  he  has  made  to  the  House,  for  he  says  that 
the  powers  which  we  were  accustomed  to  give  to  negotiators  we 
might  in  future  give  to  two  commissioners,  one  to  be  appointed 
by  either  nation  concerned,  giving  them  power  to  call  in  a 
third  as  final  arbitrator,  and  my  honorable  friend  instanced  the 
case  of  Lord  Castlereagh,  who,  on  behalf  of  this  country,  at- 
tended the  Congress  of  Vienna,  and  took  a  part  in  the  transac- 
tions which  occurred  on  that  memorable  occasion.   Lord  Cas- 
tlereagh was  then  enabled  to  say  adsum  qui  feci;  he  might  say 
he  had  done  it ;  he  was  there  upon  his  own  responsibility,  for 
least  to  a  considerable  extent  upon  his  own  responsibility,  for 
Lord  Castlereagh  at  that  time  held  the  office  of  Secretary  of 
State  for  Foreign  Affairs.   But  here  it  may  be  necessary  for  me 
to  mention  a  matter  well  deserving  to  be  borne  in  mind  during 
the  discussion  which  now  occupies  the  attention  of  the  House.  It 


I26  LORD   PALMERSTON 

is  this — that  no  person  goes  out  from  this  country,  or  usually 
from  any  other,  with  full  powers  in  the  strict  sense  of  those 
words.  Some  discretion  may  be  left  to  him,  but  he  does  not  go 
out  with  full  and  entire  discretion — quite  the  contrary.  Every 
minister  plenipotentiary  receives  instructions.  He  is  always  told 
what  he  may  agree  to  and  what  he  may  not,  and  he  has  oppor- 
tunities, of  which  ministers  often  avail  themselves,  to  send  home 
for  further  instructions.  As  long  as  he  confines  himself  to  his 
instructions  he  may  proceed  with  some  degree  of  confidence ; 
but  the  government  by  which  he  is  accredited  are  still  not  finally 
bound  by  his  acts,  and  everything  that  an  ambassador  does  he 
does  subject  to  the  approbation  of  the  government  which  he 
represents.  It  is  perfectly  competent  to  that  government  to  dis- 
avow the  acts  of  the  minister  whom  they  have  sent  out  as  an  am- 
bassador, and  to  disavow  and  reject  all  that  he  has  done,  if  they 
think  it  expedient  so  to  do ;  and  a  striking  example  has  been 
furnished  in  the  occurrences  of  the  past  week  of  the  exercise  of 
this  power.  It  is,  therefore,  quite  a  mistake  to  suppose  that,  ac- 
cording to  the  present  and  prevailing  practice,  governments  are 
at  the  mercy  of  their  envoys  ;  nothing  is  binding  upon  a  gov- 
ernment unless  'A  be  in  strict  accordance  with  communications 
made  to  other  governments  in  the  precise  words  of  the  instruc- 
tions. A  treaty  may  be  signed  and  concluded  but  it  is  of  no 
value  without  ratification,  and  this  sort  of  provision  is  necessary 
in  order  that  no  government  may  be  bound  by  the  indiscreet  or 
unauthorized  act  of  any  of  its  agents ;  and  therefore  if  an  envoy 
should  go  against  his  instructions,  the  arrangements  he  may 
make  are  of  no  value  beyond  the  paper  on  which  they  are  writ- 
ten. Therefore  do  I  state  that  my  honorable  friend  the  member 
for  the  West  Riding  makes  an  admission  that  his  plan  is  new  in 
principle.  The  House  will  not  have  forgotten  that  my  honor- 
able friend  quoted  several  cases  of  international  transactions ; 
but  he  did  not  succeed  in  making  out  the  case  which  he  ap- 
peared to  think  was  necessary  for  his  purpose.  The  cases  which 
he  mentioned  were  not  cases  of  arbitration,  but  of  mediation, 
or  else  they  were  cases  of  no  mediation  at  all,  settled  neither 
by  arbitration  nor  by  intervention — such  as  those  which 
he  mentioned  between  Russia  and  England,  and  the  case  also 
of  the  Vixen.  In  the  boundary  case  it  seemed  as  if  there 
had  been  some  show  of  arbitration;    but  it  was  notorious 


ARBITRATION  127 

that  in  that  case  arbitration  failed ;  and  when  arbitration  had 
totally  failed,  the  parties  concerned  settled  the  matter  for 
themselves  in  the  usual  manner ;  and  let  the  fact  not  be  over- 
looked, that  the  Oregon  question  was  settled  in  pretty  nearly 
the  same  way ;  at  all  events  it  was  not  settled  by  geog- 
raphers, in  the  manner  that  my  honorable  friend  would  pro- 
pose. If  it  were  to  have  been  so  settled  by  geographers,  I  con- 
fess, I  should  not  very  much  envy  the  gentlemen  who  might  be 
employed  upon  such  an  undertaking;  for  I  believe  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  the  district  through  which  they  would  have 
had  to  penetrate  is  one  of  extraordinary  wildness  and  difficulty, 
where  the  means  of  subsistence  are  hardly  to  be  obtained.  Now, 
the  case  of  the  Caroline  was  a  remarkable  one  in  reference  to 
the  question  of  arbitration,  and  it  was  one  of  those  few  cases  in 
which  it  was  manifest  that  it  would  be  unavailing  to  arbitrate. 
It  was  not  a  case  of  dispute  between  this  country  and  the  United 
States,  for  the  federal  authority  of  that  government  was  not 
sufficient  to  meet  the  exigency  of  the  case.  The  government 
of  the  United  States  said  they  were  sorry  for  what  had  occurred, 
but  they  had  no  power  to  interfere — the  supreme  government 
of  the  United  States  possessed  no  power  over  the  local  author- 
ity or  government  with  which  the  dispute  arose.  Now,  if  we  in 
that  case  possessed  a  treaty  of  arbitration,  of  what  use  would 
it  be  to  us?  For  the  Government  of  the  United  States  would 
repeat  its  declaration  that  it  could  not  interfere  with  the  local 
government.  They  would  say,  "  We  are  very  sorry,  but  we  can 
obtain  you  no  redress  from  the  State  of  New  York."  Your  prin- 
ciple then  of  arbitration  would  be  of  not  the  least  avail  in  such 
a  case.  It  leaves  you  precisely  where  you  were  before  the  intro- 
duction of  such  a  plan.  The  cases  then  which  my  honorable 
friend  has  quoted,  are  cases  in  which  the  principle  of  arbitration 
proved  useless,  or  they  are  cases  which  have  been  settled  by  the 
ordinary  authorities,  or  they  are  cases  of  mediation  in  which  a 
friendly  power  has  exercised  its  good  offices,  as  in  the  sulphur 
question  with  France,  or  they  are  cases  settled  in  the  usual 
way  after  arbitration  has  wholly  failed.  I  do  think,  however, 
and  I  have  always  thought,  that  when  two  nations  have  had  any 
difference  capable  of  being  settled  by  arbitration,  it  is  most  de- 
sirable that  they  should  allow  a  third  party  to  come  in  to  assist 
them  in  the  good  work  of  making  a  satisfactory  arrangement — 


I28  LORD   PALMERSTON 

it  is  at  all  times  most  desirable  that  a  third  party  not  actuated 
by  the  same  passions  which  heat  those  immediately  concerned, 
should  step  in,  and  bring  the  disputants  to  something  like  a 
compromise — there  must  be  a  giving  and  taking  on  both  sides, 
for  neither  party  in  such  cases  can  expect  to  get  all  that  he  may 
reasonably  or  fairly  demand,  and  all  such  negotiations  should 
therefore  be  entered  upon  in  a  spirit  of  accommodation  and 
mutual  concession,  with  a  view  to  prevent  an  appeal  to  arms, 
and  with  a  view  to  open  the  door  to  that  kind  of  negotiation 
which  may  lead  to  peace,  in  the  course  of  which  the  ministers 
engaged  on  both  sides  may  receive  from  their  respective  gov- 
ernments fresh  instructions,  in  which  answers  may  be  received, 
in  which  remonstrances  may  be  made,  further  replies  given,  and 
thus  a  long  time  elapses  before  any  actual  rupture  occurs,  and 
before  recourse  is  had  to  that  appeal  which  arms  alone  afford. 
In  the  course  of  those  proceedings  opportunities  occur  for  one 
or  other  of  the  parties  to  obtain  the  opinion  of  a  third  nation 
friendly  to  both,  and  having  no  private  or  separate  interest  to 
promote.  A  nation  so  circumstanced  may,  I  think,  well  offer  its 
mediation,  and  I  have  incurred  no  small  amount  of  obloquy, 
and  perhaps  ridicule  also,  on  the  ground  that  I  have  been  too 
forward  to  offer  mediation  in  such  cases  as  those  which  I  have 
just  been  describing.  But  I  confess  that  I  feel  perfectly  easy 
under  the  influence  of  such  attacks,  for  I  feel  quite  persuaded 
that  the  good-will,  at  least  manifested  in  such  attempts,  cannot 
fail  eventually  to  be  appreciated,  and  that  in  cases  where  Eng- 
land has  nothing  either  to  gain  or  to  lose,  a  sincere  desire  to 
prevent  war  must,  sooner  or  later,  be  attended  with  beneficial 
results ;  and  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  it  must  be  most  satis- 
factory to  my  honorable  friend  the  member  for  the  West 
Riding,  and  to  those  who  support  his  motion,  to  know  that 
mediation  has  been  of  much  more  frequent  occurrence  of  late 
years  than  in  times  past ;  but  those  honorable  gentlemen  must, 
at  the  same  time,  bear  in  mind  that  the  principle  of  arbitration 
is  not  applicable  to  the  present  state  of  Europe.  Wars  are  now 
proceeding  in  various  parts  of  the  Continent,  blood  is  being 
shed,  lives  being  sacrificed ;  but  these  occurrences  do  not  arise 
from  international  wars.  It  is  to  civil  wars  that  they  must  be  im- 
puted, and,  except  in  rare  instances  indeed,  the  intervention 
of  foreigners,  or  third  parties,  or  arbitrators,  would  be  either  im- 


ARBITRATION 


129 


practicable,  or,  if  possible,  might  be  mischievous ;  and  it  must 
be  obvious  to  everyone  that  the  kind  of  war  now  prevailing  on 
the  Continent  of  Europe  is  not  the  species  of  hostility  to  which 
the  principle  of  arbitration  can  be  applied.  In  those  wars,  how- 
ever, I  am  happy  to  be  able  to  perceive  striking  evidence  of  the 
improved  civilization  of  the  people  of  Europe — evidence  not 
only  of  improvement  in  the  governments  of  Europe,  but  of  ad- 
vancing civilization  amongst  the  masses  of  the  people.  If  such 
events  as  have  recently  taken  place  in  Europe  had  occurred  half 
a  century  ago  we  should  have  had  not  only  civil  wars,  but  con- 
flicts between  nations  of  the  most  fatal  character — fatal  alike  to 
prosperity  and  civilization.  It  is  consoling,  then,  to  see  that 
great  masses  of  men,  instead  of  standing  forth  as  the  aggres- 
sors of  their  neighbors,  confine  their  disputes  to  their  own  terri- 
tories, to  the  communities  to  which  they  properly  belong,  and 
to  their  own  internal  affairs.  It  is  gratifying  to  think  that  they 
have  not  been  led  into  warfare  with  other  nations,  either  by 
feelings  of  ambition  or  by  any  different  description  of  impulse. 
I  hope,  then,  that  now  sufficient  proof  has  been  given  that  we 
should  not  advance  the  interest  of  nations  by  recognizing  the 
principle  for  which  my  honorable  friend  contends,  at  the  same 
time  that  I  cannot  find  fault  with  him  for  introducing  this  ques- 
tion, or  for  affording  an  opportunity  for  the  expression  of  that 
general  feeling  which  animates  members  of  this  House  upon  the 
present  occasion.  The  cultivation  of  that  feeling  forms  a  great 
example  to  the  rest  of  Europe — it  tends  to  inspire  not  only  gov- 
ernments but  nations  with  the  sentiments  which  my  honorable 
friend  feels  and  has  made  known  to  the  House  this  evening; 
and  I  conceive  that  it  will  take  away  nothing  from  the  force  of 
those  sentiments,  but  rather  add  to  their  influence,  when 
I  say  that  ever  since  the  year  1825  down  to  the  present 
period,  the  practice  of  mediation  has  been  preferred  by  many 
governments,  and  several  cases  have  arisen  in  which  it 
has  been  advantageously  adopted.  I  believe  that  the  pres- 
ent government,  and  any  other  which  may  succeed  to  the 
task  of  conducting  the  affairs  of  this  country,  would  feel  it 
not  only  their  duty,  but  their  pride,  to  avail  themselves  of  every 
occasion  when  they  think  they  can  do  good  by  softening  the 
asperities  between  conflicting  powers,  and  by  effecting  be- 
tween governments  and  countries  that  may  differ,  an  amicable 
Vol.  II.— 9 


i3o  LORD   PALMERSTON 

settlement  of  their  disputes,  either  without  war,  or  by  shorten- 
ing war  if  war  should  unfortunately  arise.  The  proposition  of 
my  honorable  friend,  however,  is  not  one  to  which  I  can  advise 
the  House  to  accede.  I  do  not  quarrel  with  the  principle  upon 
which  it  is  founded ;  but  I  think  its  practical  effect  would  be 
dangerous  to  this  country,  and  that  its  practical  adoption  by 
other  countries  would  be  impossible.  Indeed,  I  believe  that  no 
country  would  agree  to  such  a  proposal.  No  country  would 
consent  blindfold  to  submit  its  interests  and  its  rights  on  all 
future  occasions  to  the  decision  of  any  third  party,  whether 
public  or  private,  whether  governments  or  men  of  science  ;  and 
I  think,  therefore,  the  proposition  is  one  which  would  be  at- 
tended with  no  possible  results  as  regards  foreign  countries. 
I  confess  also  that  I  consider  it  would  be  a  very  dangerous 
course  for  this  country  itself  to  take,  because  there  is  no  country 
which  from  its  political  and  commercial  circumstances,  from  its 
maritime  interests,  and  from  its  colonial  possessions,  excites 
more  envious  and  jealous  feelings  in  different  quarters  than 
England  does ;  and  there  is  no  country  that  would  find  it  more 
difficult  to  discover  really  disinterested  and  impartial  arbiters. 
There  is  also  no  country  that  would  be  more  likely  than  Eng- 
land to  suffer  in  its  important  commercial  interests  from  sub- 
mitting its  case  to  arbiters  not  disinterested,  not  impartial,  and 
not  acting  with  a  due  sense  of  their  responsibility.  For  these 
reasons  it  is  not  in  my  power  to  assent  to  the  motion.  I  should, 
however,  be  sorry  to  meet  it  in  a  way  that  might,  even  by  mis- 
construction, be  considered  as  negativing  the  principle  upon 
which  it  is  founded.  I  shall  not,  therefore,  propose  a  direct  neg- 
ative, although  that  is  the  mode  which,  according  to  the  usual 
practice  of  the  House,  ought  to  be  adopted  by  those  who  differ 
from  my  honorable  friend.  The  "  previous  question  "  is  not 
technically  applicable  to  this  case,  but  the  previous  question 
being  the  most  courteous  mode  of  disposing  of  such  a  motion 
as  that  before  the  House,  and  one  less  liable  than  any  other  to 
the  imputation — however  unfounded  it  may  be — of  negativing 
the  principle  of  peace,  which  is  the  foundation  of  my  honorable 
friend's  proposal,  I  beg  leave  to  move  the  previous  question. 


THE    CHURCH    OF     IRELAND 


BY 


LORD    JOHN    RUSSELL 


LORD  JOHN   RUSSELL 

1792 — 1878 

John  Russell,  the  record  of  whose  life  is  so  intimately  interwoven 
with  the  fortunes  of  the  Whig  party  for  nearly  half  a  century,  was  born 
in  London,  August  18,  1792.  He  was  the  third  son  of  the  sixth  duke 
of  Bedford.  He  received  his  early  education  at  Westminster  school 
and  with  a  private  tutor  in  Woodnesborough,  in  Kent.  He  studied  at 
Edinburgh  from  the  autumn  of  1809  till  the  summer  of  1812.  Lord 
Russell  visited  the  Peninsula  in  1812,  and  during  this  visit  he  met 
Wellington  at  Burgos,  and  in  1814  Napoleon  at  Elba.  While  still  under 
age,  in  July,  1813,  he  was  elected  member  of  Parliament  for  the  borough 
of  Tavistock  in  the  interest  of  the  Whig  party.  And  with  his  return  to 
Parliament  began  his  long  and  useful  career  as  a  statesman.  At  the 
general  election  in  1820  he  was  returned  for  Huntingdonshire.  Hence- 
forth, for  twelve  years,  he  devoted  himself  to  the  pressing  of  Parlia- 
mentary reforms.  After  the  accession  to  power  of  Earl  Grey,  Lord 
Russell,  though  then  not  a  member  of  Parliament,  was  intrusted  with 
the  task  of  explaining  the  Government  Reform  Bill  to  the  House  of 
Commons.  His  speech  on  this  occasion  marks  an  epoch  in  his  career. 
In  March,  1835,  Russell  brought  in  a  motion  to  consider  the  temporali- 
ties of  the  Irish  Church,  which  was  carried  by  a  considerable  majority 
alter  a  three  nights'  debate,  and  when  Lord  Melbourne's  ministry  again 
came  into  power  during  the  same  year  he  was  made  Home  Secretary 
with  a  seat  in  the  Cabinet. 

As  Colonial  Secretary  in  1839  Russell  pacified  the  Canadians,  whose 
claims  to  self-government  he  allowed.  His  proposal  of  a  fixed  duty  on 
foreign  grain  led  to  the  defeat  of  Melbourne's  administration  and  made 
way  for  Peel,  who  in  1845  made  public  announcement  of  his  conver- 
sion to  the  immediate  repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws.  After  Peel's  resignation 
in  consequence,  his  recall  to  power,  and  another  resignation,  all  within 
a  twelvemonth,  Russell  became  what  he  in  reality  had  been  under  the 
Melbourne  administration — Prime  Minister.  In  1846,  1847,  and  1848 
we  find  him  engaged  in  adjusting  the  affairs  of  Ireland.  In  the  Cabinet 
of  the  Earl  of  Aberdeen,  Russell  became  Foreign  Secretary  with  the 
leadership  of  the  House  of  Commons,  but  was  forced  to  resign  on  ac- 
count of  the  unpopularity  incurred  by  his  attitude  at  the  Congress  of 
Vienna.  In  1859  Russell  became  Foreign  Secretary  a  second  time  un- 
der the  second  administration  of  Palmerston,  which  office  he  held  till 
1865.  He  threw  his  whole  influence  on  the  side  of  Italian  unity  and 
preserved  a  strict  neutrality  in  the  Civil  War  in  America.  He  was 
created  Earl  Russell  in  1861,  and  entered  the  House  of  Lords.  On  the 
death  of  Lord  Palmerston  in  1865  he  became  Prime  Minister  a  second 
time.  The  reform  bill  which  he  introduced  with  Gladstone  in  1866  was 
rejected  and  his  ministry  shortly  after  resigned.  From  now  on,  up 
to  the  time  of  his  death,  May  28,  1878,  he  remained  an  active  member 
of  the  Liberal  party  in  the  House  of  Lords.  In  private  life,  says  a 
competent  authority,  Russell  was  a  genial  companion,  never  happier 
than  when  surrounded  by  his  children  and  his  books. 

As  a  statesman  he  was  a  sincere,  but  not  a  demonstrative,  patriot. 
He  championed  every  measure  that  he  believed  would  increase  the  hap- 
piness of  his  people.  Though  his  voice  was  weak  and  his  delivery 
somewhat  affected,  Earl  Russell  was  an  admirable  and  successful  de- 
bater, his  speeches  rising  to  a  high  order  of  eloquence.  The  speech  on 
"  The  Church  of  Ireland  "  is  characteristic  of  Russell's  style  of  oratory. 


132 


THE   CHURCH   OF   IRELAND 

Delivered  in  the  House  of  Commons,  March  jo,  1835 

I  RISE  fully  sensible  of  the  arduous  task  I  have  undertaken  ; 
but  although  I  am  well  aware  both  of  the  difficulty  of  that 
task,  and  of  the  responsibility  I  incur,  yet  the  confidence 
I  feel  in  the  nature  of  the  question  I  am  to  bring  forward  dimin- 
ishes much  of  my  anxiety,  because  I  cannot  but  think  that  the 
clearness  of  the  proposition  I  shall  submit  will  compensate  for 
any  obscurity  in  the  arguments  I  may  use  to  enforce  it.  I  am 
confident  that  the  truth  and  justice  of  the  cause  will  prevail 
though  the  weakness  and  incompetence  of  the  advocate  should 
be  manifest. 

With  no  further  preface,  therefore,  I  shall  enter  upon  the 
consideration  of  the  subject  of  the  Church  of  Ireland ;  and 
in  doing  so,  let  me  advert,  in  the  first  instance,  to  a  motion 
made  on  April  22,  in  the  last  year.  The  honorable  member  for 
the  city  of  Dublin  then  introduced  a  motion  for  a  committee  to 
inquire  into  the  means  by  which  the  union  with  Ireland  had 
been  effected,  and  as  to  the  expediency  of  continuing  it.  The 
honorable  member  was  met  by  an  amendment  in  the  form  of  an 
address  to  the  Crown,  which  was  carried  by  a  large  majority, 
and  in  the  minority  appeared  only  one  member  for  England, 
and  no  member  for  Scotland.  The  answer  to  the  motion  of  the 
honorable  and  learned  member,  therefore,  was  given  by  the 
Representatives  of  England  and  Scotland,  supported  by  a  great 
part  of  those  from  Ireland.  The  address  was  in  these  terms: 
'  We,  your  Majesty's  most  dutiful  and  loyal  subjects,  the  Com- 
mons, in  Parliament  assembled,  feel  it  our  duty  humbly  to  ap- 
proach your  Majesty's  throne,  to  record  in  the  most  solemn 
manner  our  fixed  determination  to  maintain  unimpaired  and 
undisturbed  the  legislative  union  between  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland,  which  we  consider  to  be  essential  to  the  strength  and 

133 


134 


LORD   RUSSELL 


stability  of  the  empire,  to  the  continuance  of  the  connection 
between  the  two  countries,  and  to  the  peace,  and  security,  and 
happiness,  of  all  classes  of  your  Majesty's  subjects.  We  feel 
this  our  determination,  to  be  as  much  justified  by  our  views 
of  the  general  interests  of  the  state,  as  by  our  conviction  that 
to  no  other  portion  of  your  Majesty's  subjects  is  the  mainten- 
ance of  the  legislative  union  more  important  than  to  the  inhab- 
itants of  Ireland  themselves.  We  humbly  represent  to  your 
Majesty  that  the  imperial  Parliament  have  taken  the  affairs  of 
Ireland  into  their  most  serious  consideration,  and  that  various 
salutary  laws  have  been  enacted,  since  the  union,  for  the  ad- 
vancement of  the  most  important  interests  of  Ireland,  and  of  the 
empire  at  large.  In  expressing  to  your  Majesty  our  resolution 
to  maintain  the  legislative  union  inviolate,  we  humbly  beg  leave 
to  assure  your  Majesty  that  we  shall  persevere  in  applying  our 
best  attention  to  the  removal  of  all  just  causes  of  complaint,  and 
to  the  promotion  of  all  well-considered  measures  of  improve- 
ment." 

This  address  was  carried  by  the  House  to  the  foot  of  the 
throne,  and  His  Majesty  was  pleased  to  return  an  answer  in 
which  he  stated  that  he  should  be  "  at  all  times  anxious  to  afford 
his  best  assistance  in  removing  all  just  causes  of  complaint,  and 
in  sanctioning  all  well-considered  measures  of  improvement." 
This  was  the  answer  of  His  Majesty  to  the  claim  in  the  petitions 
of  a  large  portion  of  the  people  of  Ireland,  enforced  by  a  mem- 
ber of  this  House,  in  whom  they  had  the  greatest  confidence, 
and  who  undoubtedly  possessed  abilities  to  place  his  arguments 
in  the  best  and  strongest  point  of  view.  In  pursuance  of  this 
answer  which  was  adopted  by  the  House  of  Lords,  and  thereby 
became,  as  it  were,  a  solemn  compact  between  the  Parliament 
of  the  United  Kingdom  and  the  people,  given  by  the  King,  re- 
ceived by  the  Commons,  and  approved  by  the  Lords,  I  am  come 
before  you  to-day  to  represent  to  you  what  I  consider  "  a  well- 
considered  measure  of  improvement."  My  complaint  is,  that 
nothing  of  that  sort  has  yet  been  done  or  attempted,  and  I  have 
referred  to  this  discussion,  not  only  on  account  of  its  strict  con- 
nection with  my  motion,  but  because  I  think  it  ought  to  refute 
any  answer  to  it  founded  upon  some  supposed  danger,  some 
distant  apprehension,  that  what  we  may  do  to  remove  a  "  just 
cause  of  complaint,"  and  to  adopt  a  "  well-considered  measure 


THE   CHURCH   OF   IRELAND 


135 


of  improvement  "  with  regard  to  Ireland,  may  have  an  injurious 
effect  at  some  distant  and  indefinite  time  on  one  of  the  institu- 
tions of  the  country.  I  say  you  are  not  at  liberty,  after  having 
agreed  to  this  address,  to  put  in  that  answer,  and  thus  to  bar  a 
remedy. 

One  of  two  things  must  be  admitted :  Either  you  are  pre- 
pared to  do  justice  to  Ireland — to  consider  her  grievances, 
and  redress  her  wrongs — or  you  are  not.  But  if  you  tell 
us  that  your  position  is  such  that  any  measure  of  that  kind 
would  be  injurious  to  England,  and  dangerous  to  her  church 
establishment,  which  prevents  the  remedy  of  the  abuses  of  the 
Church  of  Ireland,  you  surely,  then,  have  no  right  to  say  that 
it  is  fit  to  enforce  the  legislative  union.  You  are  not  to  tell  us 
that  you  cannot  listen  to  the  well-founded  grievances  of  Ireland, 
and  are  not  prepared  to  do  her  justice,  and  yet  insist  on  an  ad- 
herence to  the  legislative  union.  I  hold  that  such  an  answer 
would  be  most  impolitic  as  regards  Ireland,  and  most  danger- 
ous as  regards  the  whole  empire.  I  am  one  of  those  who  think 
that,  with  perfect  safety  to  the  Church  of  England,  you  may  rem- 
edy what  is  defective  in  the  Church  of  Ireland,  and,  remedying 
that,  may  persist  in  your  demand  for  the  preservation  of  the 
legislative  union.  I  own  I  cannot  understand  how  any  mem- 
bers of  this  House  can  confess  their  inability  to  remove  the 
grievances  of  Ireland ;  on  account  of  a  remote  and  contingent 
apprehension ;  and  yet  can  maintain,  as  absolutely  as  I  do,  that 
the  legislative  union  ought  not  to  be  disturbed.  The  state  of 
Ireland  has  long  been,  and  is  now,  a  source  of  great  embar- 
rassment to  every  statesman  of  this  country.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  the  moral,  no  less  than  the  physical  condition  of  that 
people,  is  one  of  great  degradation.  With  respect  to  the  phys- 
ical condition — with  respect  to  the  poverty  and  distress  preva- 
lent in  Ireland — if  I  were  to  bring  forward  a  motion  on  that 
subject,  I  should  be  obliged  to  state  grounds  for  thinking  that 
some  measures  were  necessary,  by  assessment  or  otherwise,  to 
lessen  that  serious  evil.  But  that  is  a  question  of  another  kind, 
and  for  another  day.  The  question  which  I  have  to  consider  is, 
the  moral  condition  of  the  people,  and  how  far  the  church  es- 
tablished in  Ireland  bears  on  that  condition.  Whether  our  acts 
of  temporary  coercion — our  acts  for  enforcing  the  collection  of 
tithes,  and  to  compel  the  due  administration  of  the  law,  have,  or 


I36  LORD   RUSSELL 

have  not  been  effectual,  there  exists,  as  we  unhappily  know,  a 
strong  propensity  to  violence  and  outrage,  not  merely  among 
a  few  lawless  and  ill-regulated  persons,  but  among  all,  or  nearly 
all,  classes  of  the  community.  This  defiance  of  the  law  arises 
from  an  opinion  that  the  law  is  not  fairly  and  equally  adminis- 
tered. Dreadful  acts  of  murder  have  been  committed  in  vari- 
ous parts  of  Ireland.  A  murder  has  been  perpetrated,  at  one 
time,  on  a  clergyman  of  a  most  unoffending  character,  and  at 
another  time  a  Roman  Catholic  has  fallen  a  victim  to  the  ani- 
mosity of  those  whom  he  had  never  intended  to  injure.  It  not 
infrequently  has  happened  that  an  individual,  wishing  to  pre- 
serve the  safety  of  his  own  person,  has  had  more  reason  to  fear 
the  combinations  of  those  who  set  up  against  the  law,  than  the 
ministers  who  execute  the  law.  It  has  too  often  happened 
that  when  Justice  has  raised  her  head,  a  stronger  power  has  re- 
sisted her  efforts,  her  balance  has  been  destroyed,  and  her 
sword  turned  aside  from  its  purpose  by  the  intervention  of  a 
multitude. 

Every  relation  of  life  in  Ireland,  as  Viscount  Melbourne  said 
in  the  House  of  Lords  last  year,  has  been,  and  still  is,  liable  to  be 
disturbed,  by  this  lawless  condition  of  affairs.  The  payment 
of  rent,  the  hiring  of  land,  the  settlement  of  wages  between  em- 
ployer and  servant,  in  short,  the  conclusion  of  every  bargain 
has  been  frequently  impeded  by  threats  on  the  part  of  those  who 
appear  to  have  no  concern  with  making  the  engagements,  and 
to  complete  them  would  be  attended  with  personal  danger.  If 
we  look  to  the  causes,  although  no  doubt  many  might  be 
named,  yet  we  cannot  help  being  struck  by  the  fact  that  there 
has  been  no  time  in  the  history  of  Ireland  since  this  country 
obtained  footing  and  dominion  there,  in  which  there  was  not 
some  dreadful  contest,  something  amounting  to  a  civil  war, 
and  a  state  of  law  which  induced  the  people  to  consider  them- 
selves rather  as  the  victims  of  tyranny  than  the  subjects  of  just 
government. 

Tt  has  happened,  by  a  kind  of  fatality,  that  those  periods 
most  remarkable  and  most  glorious  in  English  history  have 
been  marked  by  indications  of  some  new  calamity  in  Ire- 
land. While  we  justly  boast  of  the  statutes  passed  in  the  reign 
of  our  first  Edward,  an  epoch  remarkable  in  our  civil  history, 
for  Edward  has  been  called  the  English  Justinian,  the  inhabi- 


THE   CHURCH    OF    IRELAND  137 

tants  of  Ireland  vainly  petitioned  for  a  removal  of  those  invid- 
ious distinctions  which  deprived  them  of  the  benefit  of  English 
laws.  A  similar  remark  applies  to  the  reign  of  Edward  IV. 
Throughout  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  when  the  Reformation  was 
so  prosperously  completed,  and  when  the  glory  of  England 
was  so  resplendent,  not  only  in  arms,  but  in  arts  of  literature, 
the  Irish  suffered  the  most  grievous  oppressions,  and  a  new  dis- 
tinction was  introduced,  viz.,  that  distinction  of  which  I  shall 
have  so  much  to  say  to-day,  brought  about  by  changing  the 
faith  of  the  great  body  of  the  clergy,  without  the  faith  of  the 
people  undergoing  the  same  change.  Passing  over  the  period 
of  the  Commonwealth,  the  great  event  of  the  Revolution,  to 
which  we  look  back  with  such  proud  and  just  satisfaction,  was 
attended  with  new  calamities  to  Ireland.  New  distinctions 
were  made,  to  the  disadvantage  of  that  unhappy  people ;  and 
on  the  score  of  their  religion  they  were  suspected  of  an  attach- 
ment to  the  monarch  whom  England  had  banished.  They 
were  accordingly  visited  by  laws  which  Mr.  Burke  truly  desig- 
nated as  a  barbarous  code — they  were  proscribed,  humiliated, 
and  degraded,  and  treated  as  enemies,  both  to  the  throne  and  to 
the  altar.  At  the  same  time  our  ingenuity  was  tormented 
to  discover  modes  of  restricting  the  trade  of  Ireland  with  our 
colonies,  and  the  progress  of  her  internal  improvement  was 
industriously  impeded ;  such  were  the  circumstances  which  in 
Ireland  corresponded  with  the  most  glorious  events  of  English 
history. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  last  and  the  beginning  of  the  present 
century,  a  better  era  seemed  promised  to  Ireland  ;  many  odious 
restrictions  were  removed,  and  she  freed  herself  from  bonds 
which  had  previously  most  unjustly  confined  her.  The  power 
of  legislation  was  restored  to  her,  and  about  this  period  some 
religious  distinctions  were  removed,  and  she  approached  nearer 
to  the  enjoyment  of  equal  laws  and  to  the  possession  of  civil 
rights.  The  conviction  of  a  long  course  of  injustice  and  suffer- 
ing, which  naturally  impressed  the  minds  of  the  people,  induced 
them,  even  in  this  dawn  of  a  happier  day,  to  look  a  little  into 
the  cause  of  improvement  in  their  prospects  and  condition.  It 
was  said  by  a  statesman,  of  no  democratic  turn,  no  lover  of  pop- 
ular innovation — the  late  Lord  Grenville — that  concession  to 
Ireland  was  always  the  result,  not  of  kindness,  but  of  necessity. 


I38  LORD   RUSSELL 

Such  was  the  case  when,  in  the  midst  of  the  American  war, 
with  eighty  thousand  volunteers  in  arms,  England  was  obliged 
to  make  an  appeal  to  Ireland.  Such  was  the  case  in  1792,  when 
the  elective  franchise,  first  obstinately  denied,  was  at  length 
conceded,  because  a  French  war  was  impending.  Such  was 
the  case,  I  am  sorry  to  add,  since  the  period  when  Lord  Gren- 
ville  spoke,  when  Catholic  emancipation  was  reluctantly  grant- 
ed. That  concession  arose  out  of  no  admission  of  the  justice 
of  the  claim  on  the  part  of  those  who  proposed  it,  but  proceeded 
avowedly  from  the  fear  of  civil  war.  The  point  having  been 
yielded  in  this  manner,  it  cannot  be  expected  that  the  minds 
of  the  people  of  Ireland  should  be  so  changed  as  to  be  reconciled 
to  their  remaining  disadvantages ;  ancient  hatred  and  former 
animosities  still  necessarily  prevail,  and  it  seems  to  have  been 
too  often  thought  by  them  that  what  force  once  extorted,  force 
could  again  compel.  I  now  come  to  you,  and  ask  you  to  legis- 
late in  a  different  and  a  liberal  spirit.  I  come  to  you,  to  ask  you, 
although  the  Reformation  and  the  Revolution  were  periods  of 
calamity,  and  not  of  gratulation  to  Ireland,  to  make  this  era 
(when  a  Parliament  has  been  assembled  representing,  I  believe, 
fairly,  the  opinions  of  the  united  people)  celebrated  in  her  an- 
nals for  its  justice  and  impartiality,  inspiring  her  inhabitants 
with  better  hopes,  and  laying  the  foundation  of  a  lasting  settle- 
ment. 

In  considering  the  state  of  the  Church  of  Ireland  I  am 
obliged  to  look  back  and  consider  a  question  that  has  been  of 
late  a  good  deal  mooted,  viz. :  the  utility  and  object  of  a  church 
establishment.  I  am  one  of  those  fully  concurring  in  the  de- 
fence set  up  last  year  by  one  of  our  prelates,  that  an  establish- 
ment tends  to  promote  religion,  to  maintain  good  order,  and 
I  further  agree  with  him  as  to  the  fact  that  it  is  agreeable  to  the 
sentiments  of  the  majority  of  the  people  of  this  part  of  the  em- 
pire. But  as  a  friend  of  the  United  Kingdom,  I  call  upon  you 
to  consider  whether  with  respect  to  the  Church  of  Ireland  you 
can  set  up  the  same  defence  ?  Does  it  tend  to  promote  religion, 
or  to  maintain  good  order?  On  this  part  of  the  subject  I  will 
take  the  liberty  of  reading  a  passage  from  Archdeacon  Paley, 
where  he  speaks  of  a  church  establishment.  "  The  authority 
of  a  church  establishment  is  founded  in  its  utility,  and  when- 
ever, upon  this  principle,  we  deliberate  concerning  the  form, 


THE   CHURCH   OF   IRELAND  i39 

propriety,  or  comparative  excellency  of  different  establish- 
ments, the  single  view  under  which  we  ought  to  consider  any 
of  them  is,  that  of  '  a  scheme  of  instruction,'  the  single  end  we 
ought  to  propose  by  them  is,  '  the  preservation  and  communi- 
cation of  religious  knowledge.'  Every  other  idea,  and  every 
other  end,  that  have  been  mixed  with  this,  as  the  making  of  the 
Church  an  engine,  or  even  an  ally  of  the  State,  converting  it 
into  the  means  of  strengthening  or  diffusing  influence ;  or  re- 
garding it  as  a  support  of  regal,  in  opposition  to  popular,  forms 
of  government ;  have  served  only  to  debase  the  institution,  and 
to  introduce  into  it  numerous  abuses  and  corruptions."  I 
agree  also  with  a  right  reverend  prelate,  who  stated  in  one  of 
his  charges  last  year,  that  the  "  avowed  object  for  which  the 
Church  is  established  is  the  spiritual  instruction  of  all  classes 
of  the  people."  He  adds,  elsewhere,  that  the  whole  contro- 
versy is  reduced  to  this — "whether  the  religious  instruction  of 
a  nation  is  not  more  effectually  carried  on  by  means  of  an  en- 
dowed and  an  established  church  ?  "  That  is  precisely  the  ques- 
tion I  propose  to  apply  to  the  state  of  Ireland,  and  I  ask  whether 
this  great  object  has  been  advanced  by  the  mode  in  which  the 
Church  revenues  are  at  present  appropriated  in  Ireland — 
whether  the  religious  instruction  of  the  people  has  been  pro- 
moted by  the  establishment  of  the  Protestant  Church  ?  I  will 
first  consider  what  are  now  the  revenues  of  the  Irish  Church 
as  compared  with  its  revenues  in  former  times.  Upon  this 
point  a  passage  which  I  shall  beg  to  read  from  a  letter  of  Arch- 
bishop King  to  Archbishop  Wake,  after  the  death  of  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Tuam,  dated  March  29,  1716,  is  instructive.  He  says, 
"  We  have  but  about  six  hundred  beneficed  clergymen  in  Ire- 
land, and  perhaps  of  these  hardly  two  hundred  have  £100  per 
annum,  and  for  you  to  send  your  supernumeraries  to  be  pro 
vided  out  of  the  least  of  these,  does  look  too  like  the  rich  man  in 
Nathan's  parable."  At  that  period,  then,  it  will  be  seen  that 
there  were  not  more  than  six  hundred  benefices  in  Ireland,  and 
the  total  revenue  of  the  Church  at  that  time,  even  including 
lay  impropriations,  was  not  more  than  £110,000.  Now,  my 
honorable  friend  [Mr.  Ward] ,  in  his  speech  of  last  year,  made  a 
statement  of  the  present  revenues  of  the  Church  of  Ireland, 
which  has  not  been  disputed,  and  the  exactness  of  which  I  be- 
lieve there  is  no  reason  to  doubt.     It  is  as  follows :     "  The 


I4o  LORD    RUSSELL 

total  number  of  benefices  is  1,456,  of  which  seventy-four  range 
from  £800  to  £1,000  a  year ;  seventy-five  from  £  1,000  to  £  1,500 ; 
seventeen  from  £1,500  to  £2,000,  and  ten  from  £2,000  to  £2,800, 
which  is  the  maximum.  There  are  four  hundred  and  seven 
livings,  varying  from  £400  to  £800  per  annum ;  and  three  hun- 
dred and  eighty-six  livings  exceeding  £200."  I  have  before 
mentioned  that  the  total  revenue  of  the  Church  of  Ireland  in 
1716  was  £110,000,  being  made  up  of  the  sum  of  £60,000  for 
benefices,  and  about  £50,000  for  lay  impropriations.  Now,  let 
us  see  what  is  its  amount  at  present.     I  find  it  thus  stated : 

Tithe  composition ,£534433 

Episcopal  revenues  exclusive  of  tithes 141 ,896 

Deans  and  chapters  and  economy  estates 5-399 

Minor  canons  and  vicars  choral 5,183 

Dignitaries,  prebendaries,  and  canons 6,560 

Glebe  lands 68,250  at  15s. 

Perpetuity  purchase  fund 30,000 

Total £791,71 1 

These  are  the  present  revenues  of  the  Church  of  Ireland,  so 
that  in  the  whole  they  amount  to  little  less  than  £800,000.  We 
therefore  at  once  come  to  the  question  whether  this  large  sum 
has  really  been  applied  to  the  religious  instruction  of  the  people, 
or  to  whose  benefit  it  has  been  applied  ? — whether,  while  during 
the  last  century,  there  has  been  this  enormous  increase  in  the 
revenues  of  the  Church,  there  has  been  a  corresponding  in- 
crease in  the  number  of  conversions  to  the  Protestant  religion  ? 
— whether  the  activity  and  zeal  of  the  clergy  have  been  such, 
and  whether  such  has  been  their  success,  that  the  greater  por- 
tion of  the  inhabitants  of  Ireland  have  become  attached  to  the 
Protestant  Church,  and  whether  this  beneficial  change  has  been 
owing  to  the  instructions  of  its  ministers  ?  I  am  sorry  to  say, 
that  the  result  has  been  the  reverse.  I  am  afraid  that  in  the  last 
century,  although  it  is  not  so  now,  it  was  considered  rather  an 
advantage,  that  there  were  but  a  few  Protestant  clergymen  re- 
siding on  their  benefices ;  as  they  had  no  glebe-houses,  and  no 
churches,  they  had  a  very  fair  plea  for  neglecting  their  spiritual 
duties.  Tt  is  mentioned  by  more  than  one  traveller  that  such 
was  the  ordinary  case,  and  even  at  a  late  date,  many  of  the 
clergy  considered  themselves  rather  part  of  a  large  political 


THE   CHURCH   OF    IRELAND  141 

body  than  as  persons  appointed  for  the  spiritual  instruction  of 
the  people. 

It  has  been  stated  to  me  by  a  reverend  gentleman  who 
has  addressed  me,  and  who  once  held  a  benefice  in  Ireland, 
that  when  first  he  went  there  he  considered  the  character  of  the 
clergy  of  that  Church  very  different  from  the  character  of  the 
Church  of  England.  They  had  many  very  small  flocks ;  they 
had  difficulty  in  collecting  their  tithes.  Their  attention  was 
therefore  too  much  absorbed  by  the  means  of  collecting  their 
tithes,  and  they  did  not  partake  of  the  character  which  does 
so  much  honor  to  the  clergy  of  the  Church  of  England.  This 
statement  was  made  to  me  by  a  highly  respected  gentleman, 
who  held  a  benefice  in  Ireland  for  many  years  and  afterwards 
gave  it  up  and  returned  to  this  country ;  and  he  mentioned  an 
instance  of  a  clergyman  who  thought  himself  aggrieved  in  be- 
ing deprived  of  his  benefice  because  he  would  persist  in  holding 
a  commission  in  a  yeomanry  corps.  All  the  information  that 
we  have,  and  it  is  abundant,  tends  to  show  that  such  was  for- 
merly the  actual  condition  of  the  Church.  By  Tighe's  "  History 
of  Kilkenny,"  it  appears  that  the  number  of  Protestant  fami- 
lies in  1 73 1  was  1,055,  DUt  *n  JSoo  they  had  been  reduced  to 
nine  hundred  and  forty-one.  The  total  number  of  Protestants 
at  the  former  period  was  5,238,  while  the  population  of  the 
country,  which  in  1800  was  108,000,  in  1731  was  only  42,108 
souls.  From  Stewart's  "  History  of  Armagh/'  we  find  that 
sixty  years  ago  the  Protestants  in  that  county  were  as  two  to 
one  ;  now  they  are  as  one  to  three.  In  1733,  the  Roman  Catho- 
lics in  Kerry  were  in  the  proportion  of  twelve  to  one  Protestant, 
and  now  the  former  are  much  more  numerous  than  even  that 
proportion.  In  Tullamore,  in  1731,  there  were  sixty-four  Prot- 
estants to  six  hundred  and  thirteen  Roman  Catholics,  but  ac- 
cording to  Mason's  "  Parochial  Survey,"  in  18 18,  the  Protest- 
ants had  diminished  to  only  five,  while  the  Roman  Catholics 
had  augmented  to  2,455.  On  tne  whole,  from  the  best  compu- 
tation I  have  seen,  and  I  believe  it  is  not  exaggerated  one  way 
or  the  other,  the  entire  number  of  Protestants  belonging  to  the 
Established  Church  in  Ireland  can  hardly  be  stated  higher  than 
750,000 ;  and  of  those,  400,000  are  resident  in  the  ecclesiastical 
province  of  Armagh.  Without  going  into  particulars,  for 
which  indeed  I  do  not  pretend  to  be  prepared,  it  may  be  said 


142 


LORD   RUSSELL 


that  in  Armagh  the  numbers  are  seven  or  eight  to  one,  and  in 
other  parts  of  Ireland  the  disproportion  is  larger.  I  have,  how- 
ever, an  account  relating  to  different  dioceses,  which  I  believe  to 
be  very  accurate,  and  which  I  will  state  to  the  House. 

The  noble  lord  read  several  particulars,  of  which  the  follow- 
ing table  is  a  summary : 


Dioceses 

Members  of 

Established 

Church 

Roman  Cath- 
olics 

Presbyterians 

Other 
Protestant 
Dissenters 

Total 

7,529 
30,583 
35,677 
13,986 

235 
19,149 
20,404 

8,002 
25,626 

5,301 

297,131 
61,465 
58,516 

122,577 
34,606 

359,585 
170,083 

207,688 

377,430 

43,371 

IOI,627 

59,385 

9 

4 
6 
198 
164 
671 
no 

27 

3,557 
818 

334 

326 
281 
382 
199 

433 

304,687 
197,232 

Killaloe 

154,409 
136,956 

34,845 
379,076 

190,966 

216,236 

403,926 

49,225 

166,492 

i,732,452 

162,174 

6,357 

2,067,558 

Thus,  in  the  diocese  of  Ardfert,  the  Protestants  only  form 
one  forty-first  part  of  the  population ;  in  Down,  one-eighth ;  in 
Lismore,  one  twenty-seventh  ;  in  Waterford,  one-ninth  ;  in  Kil- 
laloe, one-nineteenth  ;  and  in  Dromore,  one-fourth  of  the  popu- 
lation. Thus,  too,  it  will  be  seen,  that  while  in  some  parts  of 
Ireland  the  members  of  the  Established  Church  form  a  con- 
siderable proportion  of  the  population,  and  it  is  therefore  held 
that  they  require  a  considerable  number  of  clergymen,  in  other 
parts  they  form  but  a  small  proportion — so  small  that  it  cannot 
be  necessary  or  right  that  there  should  be  so  large  an  establish- 
ment as  in  other  parts  of  the  country.  Having  shown  that  these 
are  the  general  results  with  respect  to  the  proportions  of  the 
population — and  everyone  knows,  that  by  no  computation  can 
the  members  of  the  Established  Church  be  made  to  form  more 
than  one-ninth  of  the  whole  population — I  may  venture,  with 
the  less  fear,  to  give  some  particular  instances  of  the  propor- 
tions which  the  members  of  the  Church  of  England  bear  to  the 
amount  of  money  drawn  from  tithes,  and  applied  to  the  spiritual 
instruction  of  a  small  portion  of  the  people.     The  instances 


THE   CHURCH   OF    IRELAND 


M3 


which  I  will  state  to  the  House  are  taken  from  a  memorandum 
furnished  by  my  right  honorable  friend,  the  member  for  Staf- 
fordshire [Mr.  Littleton].     They  are  as  follows: 


Parishes 


Taghmon .... 
Ballycormick . 

Ballynilty 

Dunleer 

Drumcar 

Monachebone 
Moyleary .... 

Cuppog 

Rathdrummin 
Carrickbogget 

Port 

Ullard 

Graig 

Ossory , 

Balsoon , 


Value 

Established 
Church 

Roman 
Catholic 

,£446,  Glebe  ^50 

133 

2,920 

95 
82 

153,  Glebe  £6 

IO 
21 

159 

50I 

39° 
1,460 

53 

I20 

1,528 

107 

173,  Glebe  ^30 

9 
13 

737 
1,148 

120 
82,  Glebe  ^20 

1 
7 

530 
662 

57 

142,  Glebe  ^5 
280,  Glebe  ^45 

5 

5o 

332 

800 

2,213 

440 
62 
69 

63 

4 
7 

4,779 
107 

3J3 

This,  sir,  will  be  sufficient  for  my  present  purpose.  I  believe 
that  similar  instances,  without  end,  might  be  produced  from  the 
knowledge,  and,  I  may  say,  the  personal  acquaintance,  of  gen- 
tlemen residing  in  Ireland.  Their  tendency  is  to  show  that 
there  is  a  very  large  mass  of  the  £800,000  raised  for  the  spiritual 
instruction  of  a  small  class  of  the  people,  while  all  the  rest  of 
the  people  derive  no  benefit  whatever  from  that  expenditure. 
I  believe  that  more  care  and  more  attention  have  been  given 
of  late  years,  particularly  during  the  last  seven  years,  to  the 
spiritual  cure  of  members  of  the  Church  of  England,  than  have 
been  afforded  at  a  former  period.  I  believe  that,  in  this  respect, 
the  Church  of  Ireland  now  stands  high,  and  that  there  are 
clergymen  belonging  to  that  church  who  exert  themselves  to 
the  utmost  to  afford  spiritual  instruction  to  the  people.  But 
we  must  not  fall  into  the  error  of  supposing  that  it  is  only  neces- 
sary to  build  churches  and  glebe-houses  in  order  to  convert 
men  to  the  religion  which  we  ourselves  profess.  There  were 
times,  perhaps — I  know  not  whether  it  were  so  or  not — when, 
by  kindness  and  care,  the  English  Church  might  have  obtained 
a  much  more  extensive  footing  in  Ireland  than  it  possesses 


I44  LORD   RUSSELL 

now;  but  it  is  evident  that,  as  regards  a  people,  so  much  at- 
tached to  their  own  faith  as  the  Roman  Catholics  are,  you  can- 
not hope,  by  merely  placing  a  clergyman  in  a  glebe-house,  and 
advising  him  to  preach  every  Sunday — you  cannot  hope  that, 
by  such  means,  any  real  advances  will  be  made  in  their  conver- 
sion. Everything  contradicts  such  a  supposition;  and,  if  it 
were  not  contradicted  merely  by  the  present  state  of  the  facts, 
I  am  sorry  to  say,  that  what  has  occurred  of  late  years  would 
tend  to  diminish  very  much  any  such  hopes  that  might  have 
been  entertained.  It  was  thought  fit  some  years  ago  to  call  to- 
gether public  meetings  in  Ireland,  and  to  endeavor  by  contro- 
versy and  dispute  to  bring  over  members  of  the  Catholic 
Church  to  the  Protestant  Church.  Now,  sir,  I  must  say 
that  those  who  took  this  course  acted  in  defiance  of  all 
history  and  all  experience.  I  can  well  conceive,  that  in 
the  case  of  a  rich  Church  established  in  a  country  in  which 
it  was  enjoying  large  benefits  without  attending  properly 
to  the  cure  of  souls,  individuals,  even  though  themselves 
were  in  error,  might  hope,  by  pointing  out  the  corruptions 
and  defects  of  such  a  Church,  to  obtain  many  converts ; 
but  that  persons  belonging  to  a  Church  like  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land:— that  they,  belonging  to  a  Church  so  large,  and  main- 
tained by  tithes  paid  by  the  people  generally  who  dissent  from 
it — that  they  should  attempt  a  sort  of  crusade  against  the  vol- 
untary leaders  of  men  who  support  their  own  Church,  and  hope 
to  gain  the  supremacy  in  the  controversy,  does  show,  I  think, 
greater  zeal  and  rashness  than  prudence  or  wisdom.  What, 
sir,  was  the  consequence  ?  It  might  have  happened  that  things 
might  have  gone  on  in  their  usual  course  ;  but  this  controversy 
being  commenced,  the  Catholic  clergy  considered  themselves 
attacked,  and  raised  a  spirit  of  resistance  to  the  legal  payment 
of  that  clergy  to  whom  they  were  religiously  and  theologically 
opposed.  I  am  far  from  thinking  that  that  resistance  was  justi- 
fied ;  still  less  do  I  think  that  encouragement  ought  to  have 
been  given  to  it.  But  I  feel  it  to  be  my  duty  to  place  before 
you  the  facts — to  acquaint  you  with  the  state  of  things  which 
naturally  resulted  from  what  was  attempted,  in  order  that  you 
may  see  that  the  effect  was  to  throw  an  additional  obstacle  in 
the  way  of  the  success  of  the  Church  of  England  in  its  endea- 
vors to  win  over  a  large  class  of  the  Roman  Catholics  to  its 


THE   CHURCH   OF   IRELAND  145 

spiritual  doctrines.  In  the  parish  of  Graig  a  system  of  violence 
was  commenced,  and  it  was  said  that  the  Roman  Catholic 
priests  advised  the  people  not  to  pay  tithes.  If  they  did  so  all 
parties  must  blame  them.  A  Protestant  clergyman,  on  the 
other  hand,  seized  a  horse  from  a  tithe-payer  who  was  the 
Roman  Catholic  parish  priest,  and  blame  must  be  given  to  him 
for  taking  that  course.  I  do  think  it  is  most  lamentable,  that 
instead  of  the  clergy  of  the  different  persuasions  recommend- 
ing the  mild  precepts  of  the  gospel  which  they  teach  in  com- 
mon, they  should  have  been  the  originators  of  disputes  and 
strife ;  it  is  surely  most  lamentable,  I  say,  that  such  differences 
should  have  been  commenced  by  those  who  ought  to  be  the 
ministers  of  peace.  Unfortunately  there  has  prevailed  through- 
out Ireland,  for  several  years,  a  spirit  of  resistance  to  the  pay- 
ment of  tithes,  so  inveterate  that  no  exertions  of  the  clergy, 
and  no  efforts  of  the  government,  have  succeeded  in  enforcing 
the  collection  of  them.  The  extent  of  the  evil  is  admitted  by  all 
parties.  The  laws  passed  during  the  late  administration  hav- 
ing proved  ineffectual,  the  right  honorable  gentleman  opposite, 
the  Chief  Secretary  for  Ireland,  the  other  night  came  down  to 
the  House,  and,  in  his  introduction  of  a  measure  relating  to  this 
subject,  earnestly  deprecated  the  use  of  military  force  for  the 
collection  of  tithes.  What,  then,  is  the  state  of  the  Church  of 
Ireland  ?  You,  in  the  first  place,  are  unable  to  diffuse  its  spir- 
itual and  religious  doctrines  amongst  the  great  mass  of  the  peo- 
ple ;  and  you  have,  in  the  second  place,  by  your  system  of  tithes, 
been  constantly  brought  into  collision  with  them.  You  have 
been  constantly  producing  a  state  of  things  which,  while  it  has 
led  to  the  disturbance  of  the  country,  was  irreconcilable  with 
those  spiritual  objects  for  which  the  Bishop  of  London  has  said 
a  church  establishment  alone  ought  to  exist.  Allow  me,  sir, 
to  call  the  attention  of  the  House  to  the  principle  which  the 
great  authority  I  have  quoted  lays  down.  That  authority 
states  that  church  establishments  should  be  considered  as  the 
means  of  moral  and  spiritual  instruction,  and  nothing  else ; 
the  great  object  in  establishing  them  was  to  be  essentially 
useful. 

Bearing  in  mind  what  has  occurred  at  Graig  and  Rathcormac, 
I  would  ask  whether  the  great  permanent  objects  of  a  church 

establishment  can  ever  be  secured  by  your  determining  that 
Vol.  II. -10 


I46  LORD   RUSSELL 

funds  shall  be  demanded  for  the  purpose  of  enforcing  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Church  of  England,  and  for  no  other  purpose  what- 
ever? Well,  then,  what  do  I  propose  to  do  in  this  case?  I 
propose  that  there  should  be  instituted  such  a  reform  of  the 
Church  of  Ireland  as  would  enable  us  to  adapt  the  establish- 
ment to  the  spiritual  instruction  of  those  who  belong  to  the 
Church,  and  that  there  should  be  no  unnecessary  surplus.  If 
you  adopt  this  principle,  you  cannot  do  otherwise  than  greatly 
reduce  the  Church  of  Ireland.  I  propose,  therefore,  that  you 
should  undertake  this  object,  and  that  you  should  apply  what 
shall  appear  to  be  the  surplus  in  some  way  by  which  the  moral 
and  religious  improvement  of  the  people  of  Ireland  may  be 
advanced,  by  which  their  interests  may  be  considered,  and  by 
which  they  may  hereafter  believe  that  the  funds  which  are  raised 
nominally  for  their  benefit,  are  used  for  their  benefit  in  reality. 
It  is  with  this  view,  then,  that  I  mean  to  propose  this  resolution 
to  the  House,  of  which  I  have  given  notice.  That  resolution  is 
as  follows :  "  That  this  house  resolve  itself  into  a  committee  of 
the  whole  House  to  consider  the  temporalities  of  the  Church  of 
Ireland."  The  House  having  resolved  itself  into  a  committee, 
I  shall  move,  "  That  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  committee  that  any 
surplus  which  may  remain  after  fully  providing  for  the  spiritual 
instruction  of  the  members  of  the  established  church  in  Ireland, 
ought  to  be  applied  locally  to  the  general  education  of  all  classes 
of  Christians."  In  proposing  this  course  I  feel  that  I  am  not 
doing  more  than  the  case  requires.  A  similar  course  was  taken 
in  1828  with  respect  to  the  Catholic  claims,  on  the  proposition 
of  my  honorable  friend  the  member  for  Westminster.  I  beg 
leave  to  explain  the  view  I  take,  because  I  shall  thus  answer  the 
honorable  gentleman  opposite  who  asked  me  in  what  manner 
I  intended  to  proceed.  The  motion  to  which  I  have  alluded, 
that  the  House  should  resolve  itself  into  a  committee  of  the 
whole  House  to  consider  the  state  of  the  Roman  Catholics,  was 
carried  by  a  majority  of  six.  The  committee  then  did  resolve 
that  it  was  expedient  to  consider  the  state  of  the  laws  affecting 
the  Roman  Catholics,  with  a  view  to  their  final  adjustment. 
It  was  then  moved  that  the  resolution  be  sent  to  the  Lords,  in 
order  that  their  concurrence  might  be  asked.  The  Commons 
and  the  Lords  held  a  conference  on  the  subject,  after  which  the 
latter  fixed  a  day  for  the  debate,  the  result  being  that  the  mo- 


THE   CHURCH   OF    IRELAND  147 

tion  for  their  concurrence  to  the  resolution  that  had  been  adopt- 
ed by  the  House  of  Commons  was  lost.  I  now  propose  that 
this  House  shall  resolve  to  go  into  committee,  I  shall  propose 
a  resolution  which  will  embody  the  spirit  and  substance  of  my 
present  motion.  On  that  resolution  being  reported,  I  shall 
move  an  address  to  the  Crown.  I  shall  move  that  the  resolu- 
tion be  presented  to  the  Crown,  with  a  humble  entreaty  to  His 
Majesty  that  His  Majesty  would  be  most  graciously  pleased  to 
enable  the  House  to  carry  it  into  effect.  I  think  that  this  is  the 
course  which  we  took  on  the  question  of  the  "  Church  Tempo- 
ralities Act."  After  that  bill  had  been  read  a  first  time,  the 
question  was  raised  whether  we  could  dispose  of  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal patronage  of  the  Crown  without  the  special  approval  of  His 
Majesty  ;  and  it  was  decided,  sir,  by  your  predecessors,  that  the 
question  having  been  brought  under  the  consideration  of  the 
House  by  the  King's  speech,  the  bill  might  be  read  a  second 
time,  but  that,  afterwards,  it  would  be  proper  that  a  special  mes- 
sage should  be  received.  I  call  the  attention  of  the  House  to 
that  question,  because  I  think  the  manner  of  proceeding  which 
I  recommend  is  the  best,  not  only  in  point  of  form,  but  because 
I  do  also  think  that  the  only  manner  in  which  a  satisfactory 
measure  can  be  proposed  to  the  House,  is  by  the  concurrence 
of  the  Crown.  In  proposing  this,  I  know  not  whether  the  right 
honorable  gentleman  opposite  [the  Chancellor  of  the  Ex- 
chequer] will  think  it  proper  to  follow  the  course  he  took  in 
1829.  After  a  resolution  had  been  carried  by  a  majority  of  six 
the  right  honorable  gentleman  went  down  to  the  King,  and  in- 
formed His  Majesty  that  the  House  of  Commons  had  decided 
by  a  majority  in  favor  of  the  Roman  Catholic  claims,  and  that 
the  state  of  Ireland  being  such  as  to  induce  well-founded  alarm, 
it  was  his  duty  to  change  his  course,  and  to  propose  a  measure 
of  relief.  Whether  the  right  honorable  gentleman  opposite  will 
follow  that  precedent  or  not,  I  know  not ;  but  I  do  think  that  it 
is  as  competent  to  him  to  adopt  such  a  course  on  the  present 
occasion  as  it  was  for  him  to  adopt  the  course  he  took  on  the 
Roman  Catholic  question.  The  right  honorable  gentleman 
has,  I  know,  stated  his  opinion  on  the  subject,  and  that  is  an 
opinion  which  is  against  this  proposition ;  but  he  has  spoken  in 
no  more  decided  terms  against  it  than  he  did  with  respect  to  the 
Roman  Catholic  question — a  measure  which  he  afterwards  in- 


i48  LORD   RUSSELL 

troduced.  The  right  honorable  baronet,  in  his  address  to  his 
constituents,  which  he  professed  to  be  a  declaration  of  the  prin- 
ciples on  which  he  intended  to  act,  stated,  with  respect  to  church 
reform :  "  Then,  as  to  the  great  question  of  church  reform, 
on  that  head  I  have  no  new  professions  to  make.  I  cannot 
give  my  consent  to  the  alienation  of  church  property,  in  any 
part  of  the  United  Kingdom,  from  strictly  ecclesiastical  pur- 
poses. But  I  repeat  now  the  opinion  that  I  have  already  ex- 
pressed in  Parliament,  in  regard  to  the  church  establishment 
in  Ireland — that  if  by  an  improved  distribution  of  the  revenues 
of  the  Church,  its  just  influence  can  be  extended,  and  the  true 
interest  of  the  established  religion  promoted,  all  other  consider- 
ations should  be  made  subordinate  to  the  advancement  of  ob- 
jects of  such  paramount  importance."  The  right  honorable 
gentleman  stated  his  opinion,  in  this  very  emphatic  manner, 
very  soon  after  he  took  office.  When  subsequently  the  right 
honorable  gentleman  was  asked  a  question  in  this  House,  as  to 
what  he  proposed  to  do  in  regard  to  measures  resulting  from 
the  commission  now  making  inquiries  in  Ireland,  he  answered 
that  he  was  averse  to  any  new  distribution  of  the  revenues 
of  the  Church,  which  would  promote  the  interest  and  extend  the 
influence  of  the  Church ;  but  any  measure  to  which  he  con- 
sented must  be  confined  in  its  object  to  the  promotion  of  the 
doctrines  of  the  Church.  In  some  observations  upon  the  Tithe 
Bill  lately  brought  before  the  House,  in  which  the  question  of 
the  appropriation  of  Church  revenues  was  involved,  the  right 
honorable  baronet  said  that  he  would  consent  to  their  applica- 
tion to  their  present  purposes,  but  the  amount  must  be  confined 
to  those  purposes,  spiritual  and  ecclesiastical,  viz.,  those  pur- 
poses for  which  the  Church  of  England  at  present  exists.  Now, 
I  do  say,  sir,  that  the  right  honorable  baronet  having  stated  his 
opinion  thus  broadly  on  this  question,  it  is  quite  clear,  that 
whatever  may  be  the  result  of  the  inquiries  which  the  commis- 
sion is  yet  to  pursue,  it  is  necessary  that  the  House  of  Com- 
mons should  come  to  some  decision  on  that  point,  and  either 
adopt  or  reject  the  principle  adopted  by  the  right  honorable 
baronet. 

If  the  House  be  determined  to  confine  the  revenues  of  the 
Church  to  purposes  strictly  ecclesiastical,  it  is  better  for 
that  determination  to  be  declared;    but  if  the  House  is  not 


THE   CHURCH   OF   IRELAND 


149 


of  that  opinion,  it  is  certainly  of  no  use  for  us  to  be  passing 
through  the  different  stages  of  the  bills  for  the  commutation 
of  tithes.  We  ought,  in  my  opinion,  to  proceed  with  that  bill, 
while  this  great  question  is  unsettled — while  it  is  yet  unknown 
whether  the  ministers  and  the  House  of  Commons  agree  as  to 
the  question,  or  are  at  variance  upon  it.  I  think,  sir,  that  this 
consideration  is  a  full  justification  of  the  course  I  take  in  pro- 
posing this  resolution  to  the  House.  It  is  quite  clear  that  the 
late  ministry,  or  any  similar  ministry,  on  the  report  of  the 
Church  commissioners  becoming  known,  would  have  been  dis- 
posed to  act  on  the  spirit  of  that  report,  and,  if  necessary,  would 
have  proposed  to  reduce  the  church  establishment  in  Ireland. 
But  the  right  honorable  baronet  tells  us  at  once,  immediately 
on  his  assuming  office,  again  on  appearing  in  this  House,  and 
also  in  proposing  the  Tithe  Bill — three  separate  times  he  tells 
us — that  the  commission  may  go  on  prosecuting  its  inquiries, 
but  he  should  care  for  its  report  no  otherwise  than  as  it  would 
enable  him  to  effect  a  better  distribution  of  Church  property 
among  the  members  of  the  Church  ;  and  whatever  the  nature  of 
the  report,  whatever  the  surplus,  however  extensive  the  reduc- 
tion which  the  Protestant  Church  might  bear  consistently  with 
the  preservation  of  its  stability,  and  the  extension  of  its  really 
beneficial  influence,  he  has  made  up  his  mind  already  not  to 
consent  to  forego  the  principle  of  maintaining  the  property  of 
the  Church  to  its  present  purposes.  That  being  the  case,  it  is 
quite  necessary,  as  it  appears  to  me,  to  come  to  some  distinct 
resolution  on  the  question.  It  is  for  the  advantage  of  everyone 
— for  the  advantage  of  this  country — for  the  advantage  of  Ire- 
land— and,  indeed,  for  the  general  advantage  of  the  empire — 
that  there  should  be,  on  this  great  and  vital  question,  an  admin- 
istration in  harmony  with  the  House  of  Commons,  acting 
according  to  its  sense.  And  if  the  right  honorable  gentleman 
has  the  confidence  of  the  House,  or  if  his  opinions  and  the  opin- 
ions of  those  acting  with  him  being  adverse,  he  is  prepared  to 
take  the  course  he  took  on  a  former  occasion — in  either  case 
it  is  far  better  that  at  once  we  should  come  to  some  decision, 
and  not  be  voting  supplies  and  not  going  on  night  after  night, 
and  week  after  week,  without  knowing  whether  the  ministers 
of  the  Crown  do  enjoy  the  confidence  of  the  House  on  this 
great  question,  or  do  not.     Well,  then,  sir,  I  think  that  what  I 


i5° 


LORD   RUSSELL 


have  said  will  be  considered  a  sufficient  answer  to  any  argument 
that  may  be  drawn  from  the  fact  of  the  report  of  the  commis- 
sion not  being  yet  on  the  table  of  the  House.  The  honorable 
gentleman  opposite  may  say  that  it  is  inconsistent  thus  to  bring 
forward  a  motion  on  this  subject,  without  the  report  being  be- 
fore us,  and  they  are  quite  welcome,  if  they  please,  to  throw 
those  taunts  upon  us ;  but  I  think  it  sufficient  to  state  in  reply 
that  the  state  of  the  question  has  been  entertained,  that  it  is  a 
question  no  longer  open — on  the  contrary,  it  is  one  on  which  a 
decided  opinion  has  been  formed  by  the  honorable  gentleman 
on  the  other  side  of  the  House ;  and  that  decided  opinion  having 
been  pronounced,  it  is  quite  necessary  that  we  should  ask 
whether  or  no  the  principle  which  we  propose — whether  the 
appropriation  of  the  revenue  of  the  Church  of  Ireland,  or  any 
part  of  it,  to  uses  by  which  the  people  of  Ireland  generally  can 
be  benefited — will  secure  the  sanction  of  the  House.  I  come 
now  to  the  question  with  respect  to  the  purposes  to  which  I 
would  apply  the  surplus. 

The  other  night  an  honorable  gentleman  asked  me  whether 
I  proposed  that  any  part  of  the  money  should  go  for  the  pur- 
pose of  affording  religious  education  to  the  Roman  Catholics, 
on  the  principles  of  the  Roman  Catholic  religion.  My  an- 
swer is,  that  I  propose  to  adopt  the  principle  acted  on  by  the 
National  Board  of  Education  for  Ireland.  The  measure,  con- 
stituting that  board,  was  proposed  by  my  noble  friend,  the 
member  for  Lancashire;  and,  according  to  that  measure, 
members  of  all  creeds,  children  of  all  persuasions,  can  re- 
ceive religious  and  moral  instruction,  and  are  brought  up  in 
harmony  and  at  peace  with  each  other.  I  have  considered 
that,  in  the  present  state  of  Ireland,  no  measure  would  tend  so 
much  to  its  future  peace  as  the  expending  of  large  funds  for  the 
purpose  of  promoting  education.  From  the  earliest  times  it 
will  be  found  that  the  Protestants  have  been  desirous  of  improv- 
ing the  condition  of  the  people  of  Ireland  by  means  of  educa- 
tion. It  was  the  object  of  the  12th  of  Elizabeth,  chapter  first. 
The  preamble  of  that  act  actually  states  that  much  good  is  ex- 
pected to  result  from  the  establishment  of  a  good  system  of  edu- 
cation in  Ireland.  But,  in  after  times,  and  in  times  much  later, 
there  have  been  those  who  considered  that  it  was  of  the  utmost 
importance  that  instruction  should  be  given  to  the  people  of 


THE   CHURCH   OF   IRELAND  iSi 

Ireland  in  such  a  manner  as  would  not  interfere  with  their  re- 
ligious faith.  In  support  of  this  statement,  I  beg  the  attention 
of  the  House,  while  I  read  to  them  the  copy  of  a  letter  from  the 
Lord  Bishop  of  Clonfert  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Moore,  of  Boughton- 
Blean,  near  Canterbury :  '  Though  I  had  not  the  pleasure  of 
receiving  your  very  informing  discourse  on  Sunday-schools  at 
the  time  you  intended,  I  have  since  got  it,  and  read  it  with  the 
greatest  satisfaction.  It  is  an  admirable  defence  and  recom- 
mendation of  this  new  institution,  which  I  hope  will  daily 
become  more  general,  and  produce  the  best  moral  effects,  by  im- 
pressing the  children  of  the  poor  with  a  sense  of  duty  and  reli- 
gion, at  the  only  time  and  age  when  they  are  capable  of  impres- 
sions. A  poor  man's  creed  need  not  be  long,  but  it  should  be 
struck  in  early,  and  a  true  and  right  one.  If  he  believes,  as  the 
common  proverb  says,  that  he  is  to  die  like  a  dog,  he  will  un- 
doubtedly live  like  one.  The  communication  of  education  is 
certainly  a  very  great  blessing  to  the  poor ;  and  had  Mandeville, 
and  they  who,  to  serve  political  purposes,  are  for  denying  all 
instruction  to  the  lower  classes,  only  pushed  their  argument 
far  enough,  they  might  have  proved  that  they  had  a  right  to 
maim,  or  put  out  the  eyes  of,  the  common  people,  in  order  to 
make  them  more  manageable,  and  more  in  the  power  of  their 
superiors. 

Having  never  seen  the  paragraph  in  the  English  papers 
concerning  me,  to  which  you  allude  in  your  appendix,  I  can 
say  nothing  to  it ;  but  what  I  have  endeavored  to  do  in  my  dio- 
cese, ever  since  my  appointment,  is  this — there  are  twenty  Cath- 
olics to  one  Protestant  in  it.  To  attempt  their  conversion,  or 
to  think  of  making  them  read  Protestant  books,  would  be  in 
vain.  I  have,  therefore,  circulated  amongst  them  some  of  the 
best  of  their  own  authors,  particularly  one  Gother,  whose  wri- 
tings contain  much  pure  Christianity,  useful  knowledge,  and 
benevolent  sentiments.  He  wrote  eighteen  volumes  of  relig- 
ious extracts,  and  died  about  the  year  1696.  Unable  to  make 
the  peasants  about  me  good  Protestants,  I  wish  to  make  them 
good  Catholics,  good  citizens,  and  good  anything.  I  have  es- 
tablished, too,  a  Sunday-school,  open  to  both  Protestants  and 
Catholics,  at  my  residence  in  the  country,  have  recommended 
the  scheme  to  my  clergy,  and  hope  to  have  several  on  foot  in 
the  summer.     Pastoral  works,  however,  of  this  nature,  go  on 


152  LORD   RUSSELL 

very  heavily  in  a  kingdom  so  unsettled  and  so  intoxicated  with 
politics  as  this  is.  I  return  you  my  best  thanks  for  your  oblig- 
ing present." 

I  cannot  conceive,  sir,  that  funds  intended  for  the  religious  in- 
struction of  the  people  can  be  misapplied  when  devoted  to  ob- 
jects likely  to  make  them  good  subjects  of  the  State,  and  relig- 
ious and  moral.  Objects  of  a  similar  kind  were  kept  in  view, 
when,  in  1806  a  commission  was  appointed,  which  consisted  of 
the  Archbishop  of  Armagh,  Mr.  Grattan,  and  Mr.  Edgeworth. 
After  several  years  spent  in  inquiry,  they  agreed  to  a  report,  in 
which  they  carefully  laid  down  the  principle  that  any  new  system 
of  education  ought  to  be  such  as  would  not  interfere  with  the  re- 
ligious tenets  of  any  particular  party.  In  an  appendix  to  the  re- 
port there  is  a  letter  from  Mr.  Grattan,  who,  in  speaking  of  the 
sort  of  schools  that  should  be  formed,  says  that  they  ought  to 
be  founded  on  more  extensive  and  comprehensive  principles. 
The  board  for  promoting  Irish  education  is  composed  of  the 
Archbishop  of  Dublin,  the  Duke  of  Leinster,  and  others.  I  am 
sure  that  all  must  have  heard  that  the  schools  of  the  kind  estab- 
lished by  the  recommendation  of  that  board,  have  been  con- 
ducted with  the  utmost  harmony,  and  attended  with  the  most 
beneficial  effects — moral  and  religious  instruction  has  been 
conveyed  generally  to  the  people  without  reference  to  one  par- 
ticular and  exclusive  creed.  I  come  now  to  meet  one  or  two  ob- 
jections which  have  been  urged,  but  which  I  do  not  think  well 
founded. 

The  first  is  the  assertion  of  that  principle  that  the  property  of 
the  Church  ought  not  to  be  diverted  from  the  use  of  the  Church 
to  which  it  belongs.  With  respect  to  that  principle,  I  am  not  dis- 
posed to  go  at  large  into  the  general  question  as  to  Church  prop- 
erty being  considered  private  or  not.  I  am  disposed  to  consider 
that  question  as  Burke  was  disposed  to  consider  the  right  of 
taxation  over  a  colony,  as  he  expressed  his  opinion  in  his  speech 
made  on  the  motion  for  the  conciliation  of  America.  And  I  be- 
lieve that  if  I  were  to  attempt  entering  on  that  question,  I  should 
run  great  risk  of  overwhelming  myself  in  that 

" great  Serbonian  bog 


Betwixt  Damiata  and  Mount  Casius  old, 
Where  armies  whole  have  sunk." 


THE    CHURCH   OF   IRELAND 


iS3 


Burke  has  also  said,  "From  the  earliest  considerations  of  religion 
and  constitutional  policy,  from  their  opinion  of  a  duty  to  make  a 
sure  provision  for  the  consolation  of  the  feeble  and  the  instruc- 
tion of  the  ignorant,  they  have  incorporated  and  identified  the 
estate  of  the  church  with  the  mass  of  private  property,  of  which 
the  State  is  not  the  proprietor,  either  for  use  or  dominion,  but 
the  guardian  only  and  the  regulator.  They  have  ordained  that 
the  provision  of  the  Establishment  might  be  as  stale  as  the  earth 
on  which  it  stands,  and  should  not  fluctuate  with  the  Euripus  of 
funds  and  actions."  Now,  I  do  not  hold  the  opinion  that  this 
is  private  property,  and  that  we  can  no  more  interfere  with  the 
revenues  of  a  bishop  than  with  the  estate  of  an  earl.  Mine,  how- 
ever, is  not  the  doctrine  of  right  honorable  gentlemen  opposite. 
If  they  made  their  stand  on  the  question  of  private  right — if  they 
said  that  ecclesiastical  property  shall  not  be  disposed  of  other- 
wise than  as  it  was  originally  devised  or  distributed — I  could 
easily  understand  them;  but  this  is  not  their  argument.  They 
hold  that  the  State  may  distribute  Church  property  otherwise 
than  as  at  present;  that  the  State,  for  example,  can  take  from  a 
bishop,  and  give  to  a  rector  or  curate.  Does  that  doctrine,  then 
I  ask,  bear  any  resemblance  whatever  to  the  law  which  recog- 
nizes private  property?  Does  Parliament  ever  proceed  on  that 
principle  in  the  latter  case,  and  say,  "There  are  one  hundred  or 
two  hundred  great  proprietors  in  this  country,  and  it  is  expedient 
that  wealth  should  be  more  equally  distributed?"  If  Church 
property  be  private  property,  we  cannot,  for  a  moment,  stop  to 
inquire  whether  the  Bishop  of  Durham  has  too  much.  We  are 
satisfied  it  is  private,  and  we  cannot  touch  it.  On  what  princi- 
ple, then,  do  we  proceed,  and  to  what  conclusion  does  our  pro- 
ceeding necessarily  lead?  My  noble  friend,  the  member  for 
Lancashire,  Lord  Stanley,  proposed  a  bill,  which  was  passed  into 
a  law,  and  which  diminished  the  number  of  bishops  in  Ireland. 
The  number  was  too  great,  and  the  funds  were  to  be  distrib- 
uted— in  what  manner?  To  those  next  in  order — to  deans  and 
chapters.  But  supposing  there  was  enough  for  them,  and  still 
a  surplus,  what  then?  Why,  then  it  was  to  be  applied  to  rectors, 
to  churches,  and  glebe-houses.  But  it  might  also  happen,  that 
the  bishops  had  too  great  a  revenue  still,  so  that  there  would  be  a 
surplus  after  all  these  objects  had  been  accomplished.  How  is 
it  possible  to  say  that  we  can  redistribute  this  property,  and  yet 


I54  LORD   RUSSELL 

not  carry  out  the  principle  to  its  legitimate  length,  and  distribute 
the  surplus  in  a  manner  in  which  it  may  be  most  useful  ?  On 
what  principle  do  we  go?  Upon  no  other  than  this — that  it  is 
useful  for  the  purpose  of  religious  instruction  that  there  should 
be  a  redistribution.  And  what  do  we  come  to?  To  a  principle 
totally  distinct  from,  and  at  variance  with,  every  law  by  which 
private  property  is  affected.  I  maintain,  we  can  only  do  that  on 
the  grounds  of  public  expediency,  of  public  right,  and  of  public 
advantage. 

If  then,  I  show  that  public  right,  public  expediency,  and 
public  advantage,  require  the  application  of  some  portion  of 
those  revenues  to  works  of  religious  education  and  charity, 
where,  I  would  ask,  is  the  distinction  between  them?  and  how 
can  the  right  honorable  gentleman  pretend  that  he  left  that  prop- 
erty more  sacred  than  I  do?  I  confess,  that  to  my  mind  the  right 
honorable  gentleman  and  his  colleagues  have  no  ground  to  stand 
upon,  and  I  cannot  see  how  they  keep  themselves  out  of  the 
Serbonian  bog  to  which  Mr.  Burke  alluded.  On  the  one  hand, 
they  may  stand  on  the  notion  of  private  property,  and  maintain 
the  ecclesiastical  revenues  intact  and  inviolate  to  their  original 
destination ;  or,  on  the  other  hand,  admitting  the  right  of  Parlia- 
ment to  interfere,  they  must  hold  that,  for  the  benefits  of  the  sub- 
jects of  the  realm,  for  their  religious  instruction,  for  the  well- 
being  and  harmony  of  the  State,  it  may  so  interfere.  But  there 
is  resting  between  the  two  propositions;  to  say  that  it  should  be 
partly  distributed,  and  partly  kept  sacred,  partly  interfered  with 
for  public  objects,  and  partly  considered  private  property,  does 
seem  to  me  to  couple,  in  one  proposition,  the  utmost  absurdity 
with  the  utmost  inefficiency.  Sir,  I  do  hope  that  honorable  gen- 
tlemen opposite  will  grapple  with  this  great  question  on  clear 
and  intelligible  grounds.  I  must  protest  against  any  proposi- 
tion not  founded  on  distinct  and  known  principles,  and  which 
does  not  tend  directly  to  the  good  of  the  State.  But  we  are  told, 
in  defence  of  the  present  mode  of  applying  Church  property  in 
Ireland — that  the  greatest  number — fifteen  to  one,  it  is  said — of 
the  owners  of  the  land  in  fee — are  members  of  that  Church. 
Sir,  if  I  could  fancy  that  anyone  would  hold  such  a  doctrine  as 
this — that  a  church  establishment  was  intended  originally  for  the 
exclusive  benefit  of  the  rich — that  spiritual  instruction  should  be 
given  only  to  men  who  had  an  estate  of  inheritance — that  none 


THE   CHURCH   OF   IRELAND 


155 


but  a  man  who  possessed  a  freehold  estate  should  be  entitled  to 
the  comforts  and  consolations  of  religion — I  could  then  under- 
stand the  argument  to  which  I  have  alluded;  but  when  I  refer  to 
any  of  the  great  authorities  I  have  quoted,  who  cannot  be  ques- 
tioned or  repudiated,  and  when  I  find  it  laid  down  that  a  church 
establishment  is  intended  for  the  benefit  of  all  classes,  and  more 
especially  for  the  benefit,  the  instruction,  and  consolation  of  the 
poor,  it  is  not  enough  to  tell  me  that  those  who  originally  con- 
tribute the  sums  which  constitute  the  revenues  of  the  Church 
are  Protestants  and  members  of  that  Church ;  for  I  am  bound  to 
look  at  the  effect  of  the  payment  of  tithe,  on  the  whole,  as  a  sys- 
tem. Besides,  on  whomsoever  the  charge  of  maintaining 
the  Establishment  may  fall  ultimately,  it  is  perfectly  notorious 
that  those,  on  whom,  for  the  most  part,  the  tithe  is  levied,  and 
on  whom  it  first  falls,  are  members  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
faith. 

The  right  honorable  gentleman  [Sir  Henry  Hardinge]  stated 
to  the  House  the  other  evening  that  sums  were  collected  every 
day,  and  will  continue  to  be  collected  as  long  as  leases  are  in  force, 
of  sixpence,  fourpence,  and  one  penny  from  those  who  do  not 
belong  to  the  Establishment — from  which,  indeed,  they  derive  no 
benefit  whatever.  The  alleged  circumstance,  then,  that  the  orig- 
inal proprietors  of  land  happen  to  be  members  of  the  Church 
ought  not  to  be  an  objection  to  the  proposition  for  which  I  con- 
tend. On  these  grounds,  and  unaffected  by  those  objections  I 
have  noticed,  I  am  prepared  to  move  the  resolution  which  I  call 
on  the  House  to  sanction  and  affirm.  I  do  think,  that  if — with- 
out adopting  some  such  course  as  that  which  I  venture  to  recom- 
mend— we  pass  the  Tithe  Bill  in  the  shape  in  which  it  has  been 
proposed,  appropriating  solely  to  the  benefit  of  the  Irish  Church 
all  its  existing  revenues,  we  shall  neither  obtain  peace,  nor  act 
ultimately  for  the  harmony  and  advantage  of  Ireland.  I  believe 
that  the  Irish  people  have  warm  affections,  and  are  strongly  at- 
tached to  those  who  confer  any  benefit  on  them.  Notwith- 
standing those  outrages  and  acts  of  violence  to  which  I  referred 
in  the  commencement  of  my  speech,  it  is  a  singular  fact  that  no 
traveller  ever  goes  into  Ireland  who  does  not  declare  that  he  has 
been  received  everywhere  by  the  poorest  peasant,  not  only  in  the 
most  hospitable  manner,  but  with  the  utmost  friendly  and  open- 
hearted  kindness.     Those  who  do  not  belong  to  Ireland,  but 


I56  LORD    RUSSELL 

have  lived  in  that  country,  have  assured  me,  over  and  over  again, 
that  the  gratitude,  and  the  overflowing  of  the  affection  of  the 
peasantry  towards  those  who  manifest  kindness  towards  them  is 
very  great.  Such  being  the  feeling,  and  such  the  conduct  of  that 
nation  to  individuals,  the  House  has  now  an  opportunity  of  earn- 
ing that  gratitude  and  making  that  affection  its  own,  by  asserting 
the  principle  for  which  I  contend,  and  by  thus  doing  justice  to 
the  people  of  Ireland.  We  have  now  the  power  of  acting  free 
from  fear — free  from  any  compulsion ;  there  is  no  fear  of  foreign 
war  before  us,  nor  of  civil  war  in  Ireland.  It  is  in  our  power  at 
length  to  settle  and  gain  the  affections  of  that  country,  to  silence 
the  question  of  a  repeal  of  the  union,  to  gain  the  tribute  of  grate- 
ful homage  from  a  people  so  warm-hearted,  so  eminently  brave 
and  loyal ;  while  we  shall,  at  the  same  time,  have  the  satisfaction 
of  reflecting,  that  in  doing  justice  to  Ireland  we  shall  have  con- 
tributed more,  than  by  any  other  measure  we  can  adopt,  to  the 
future  prosperity  of  the  empire,  making  her  unconquerable  by 
her  enemies,  and  an  example  of  religious  liberality  to  the  rest  of 
the  world.  I  shall  now  conclude  by  moving,  "  That  the  House 
do  resolve  itself  into  a  committee  of  the  whole  House  to  con- 
sider the  temporalities  of  the  Church  of  Ireland." 


LIFE    AND     CULTURE 


BY 


THE     EARL    OF     DERBY 

(Edward  Henry  Smith  Stanley) 


EDWARD  HENRY  SMITH  STANLEY,  EARL  OF  DERBY 

1826 — 1893 

Edward  Henry  Smith  Stanley  was  born  at  the  family  seat  of  Knows- 
ley,  Lancashire,  on  July  21,  1826.  He  was  at  Rugby  under  Arnold  and 
later  went  to  Cambridge,  where  he  graduated  with  highest  honors. 
During  his  absence  on  a  tour  to  America  he  was  elected  to  Parliament 
for  King's  Lynn  to  succeed  Lord  George  Bentinck,  lately  deceased. 
While  absent  on  a  tour  in  India  he  was  appointed  Under  Secretary  for 
Foreign  Affairs  under  his  father's  first  administration.  During  the  suc- 
ceeding year  he  joined  Cobden  and  Bright  in  resisting  "  the  policy  of 
drifting  into  war,"  and,  no  doubt,  influenced  by  these  men,  he  became, 
and  always  remained,  a  strong  supporter  of  movements  for  the  benefit 
and  improvement  of  the  working  classes  and  of  all  reforms  of  a  moderate 
and  liberal  character.  In  the  second  administration  of  his  father  he 
became,  in  February,  1858,  Colonial  Secretary  and,  later,  First  Secre- 
tary of  State  for  India.  After  the  great  mutiny  he  had  a  large  share 
in  the  reconstruction  of  the  government  for  India,  performing  his  work 
with  consummate  skill  and  judgment. 

In  July,  1866,  during  his  father's  third  administration,  he  was  ap- 
pointed Foreign  Secretary.  He  kept  Great  Britain  neutral  during  the 
war  of  Prussia  and  Italy  with  Austria,  and  acted  as  mediator  between 
France  and  Prussia  in  the  Luxembourg  affair.  He  resigned  on  the  ac- 
cession of  the  Gladstone  ministry  in  1868. 

Early  in  the  following  year  he  was  made  Lord  Rector  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Glasgow,  and  in  October  of  the  same  year,  on  the  death  of  his 
father,  he  took  his  seat  in  the  House  of  Lords.  Derby  again  became 
Foreign  Secretary  under  Disraeli  in  1874,  but  owing  to  a  disagreement 
with  his  chief  on  the  Eastern  question  he  resigned  in  March,  1878. 

He  severed  his  connection  with  the  Conservatives  in  1880,  and  was 
soon  accepted  as  the  leader  of  the  Liberals.  From  December,  1882,  to 
1885  he  was  Colonial  Secretary  in  Gladstone's  second  administration. 
Gladstone's  Home  Rule  plans  induced  him  to  join  the  newly  formed 
party  of  Liberal-Unionists  early  in  1886.  He  was  their  leader  in  the 
House  of  Lords  till  1891,  when  he  retired  from  public  life  to  give  his 
attention  to  the  study  of  social  questions.  His  last  public  speech  was 
at  the  unveiling  of  the  Bright  monument  at  Manchester  in  October,  1892. 
He  died  April  21,  1893.  In  Parliament,  though  not  a  prominent^  de- 
bater, and  though  his  enunciation  was  imperfect,  he  spoke  impressively 
and  had  a  great  gift  "  of  making  speeches  with  which  everyone  must 
agree,  and  which  at  the  same  time  were  never  commonplace."  His  ora- 
tion on  "  Life  and  Culture,"  delivered  on  assuming  the  Lord  Rector- 
ship of  Glasgow  University,  is  one  of  the  most  perfect  orations  ever 
delivered  within  the  walls  of  that  historic  institution. 


is8 


LIFE  AND  CULTURE 

Delivered  on  assuming  the  Lord  Rectorship  of  Glasgow 
University,  April  i,  1869 

IT  is  with  no  common  satisfaction,  but  at  the  same  time  with 
a  sense  of  diffidence  which  I  cannot  shake  off,  and  do  not 
care  either  to  deny  or  to  conceal,  that  I  take  my  place  for 
the  first  time  in  this  hall  among  those  by  whom  I  have  been 
raised  to  a  post  of  honor  on  my  part  unsought  and  unsolicited, 
but  on  that  very  account  doubly  gratifying,  not  the  less  so  be- 
cause just  thirty-five  years  ago  it  fell  to  my  father's  lot  to  stand 
in  this  room,  and  with  powers  very  different  from  mine,  but  cer- 
tainly not  with  more  anxiety  to  exert  them  to  the  utmost  in 
your  service,  to  discharge  the  honorable  function  which  de- 
volves on  me  to-day. 

Gentlemen,  the  Lord  Rector  of  this  university,  be  he  who  he 
may,  looks  back  on  a  series  of  more  than  ordinarily  illustrious 
predecessors,  and  cannot  but  feel  honored  by  the  association, 
although  but  casual  and  temporary,  of  his  name  with  theirs.  It 
is  something  to  be  the  successor,  however  unworthily,  of  Burke 
and  Adam  Smith,  of  Jeffrey,  Mackintosh,  and  Brougham,  of 
literary  men  such  as  Campbell  and  Lytton ;  of  politicians  like 
Palmerston  and  Peel.  Rightly  and  wisely,  you  have  not  con- 
fined the  highest  honor  at  your  disposal  within  either  local  or 
professional  limits.  Rightly  and  wisely,  you  have  sought  in 
your  Lord  Rectors  for  representative  men,  not  literary  men 
alone,  nor  men  of  science,  nor  politicians,  nor  lawyers,  but  each 
and  all  of  these  in  their  turn  ;  sympathizing  with  honest  and 
strenuous  effort  in  whatever  branch  of  human  exertion,  and 
recognizing  that  not  literature  exclusively,  nor  exclusively 
science,  but  action  directed  to  useful  public  objects,  is  the  true 
end  and  purpose  of  that  large  and  comprehensive  training 
which  it  is  your  glory  and  your  privilege  to  bestow. 

i59 


^o  EARL   OF   DERBY 

Gentlemen,  if  I  came  here  merely  to  indulge  in  the  language 
of  compliment  I  might  justly  congratulate  you  on  the  patriotic 
munificence  which  has  given  to  your  ancient  university  a  new 
and  suitable  home — on  your  four  centuries  of  energetic  and 
successful  existence,  dating  from  a  time  when  Glasgow  itself 
was  little  more  than  what  we  should  now  call  a  village — on  your 
1,200  students,  your  twenty-five  professorial  chairs — on  the 
encouragement  you  afford  to  struggling  and  otherwise  unaided 
talent — on  the  practical  and  varied  character  of  the  instruction 
given  within  these  walls — on  the  long  list  of  justly  distinguished 
names,  which,  from  the  days  of  Buchanan  to  our  own,  has  testi- 
fied to  the  reality  of  the  work  you  do,  and  illustrated  the  long 
series  of  your  annals.  But,  gentlemen,  it  is  not  merely  in  the 
language  of  compliment  that  I  wish  to  speak  here.  Words 
that  lead  to  nothing  are  words  wasted,  and  I  should  very  ill  re- 
pay your  kindness  if,  on  the  only  occasion  when  it  will  probably 
ever  be  my  lot  to  meet  you  face  to  face,  I  should  confine  myself 
to  expressions  of  gratitude,  however  sincerely  felt,  or  to  the 
language  of  vague  and  general  panegyric,  however  much  I 
might  feel  it  to  be  deserved. 

But  there  is  one  circumstance  connected  with  the  studies  of 
this  place  that  seems  to  me  worthy  of  notice,  because  it  may 
very  well  serve  as  a  model  to  other  and  even  greater  communi- 
ties than  Glasgow — I  mean  the  facilities  supplied  here  to  com- 
paratively poor  men  to  obtain  the  knowledge  they  seek  for,  and 
to  compete  on  equal  terms  with  the  rich.  Comparisons  are  no- 
toriously invidious,  but  I  believe  it  is  not  to  be  denied  that  in 
that  respect  you  set  us,  the  English,  a  good  example,  and  one 
which  we  should  do  well  to  follow.  No  doubt,  it  is  difficult  to 
check  undue  expenditure  in  the  case  of  young  men  whose 
means  allow  it ;  but  if  I  were  to  say  that  both  in  our  English 
schools  and  colleges  more  might  be  done  in  that  respect  than  is 
now  done  I  believe  I  should  express  an  opinion  which  is  very 
generally  entertained  among  those  whom  it  most  directly  con- 
cerns. 

The  combination  of  high  attainments,  persevering  study,  and 
limited  means,  is  perhaps  rarer  in  these  islands,  taking  them  as 
a  whole,  than  in  some  other  European  countries.  Yet,  though 
learning  needs  some  degree  of  leisure,  there  is  no  natural  con- 
nection between  learning  and  opulence.     Scholarship  has  few 


LIFE   AND   CULTURE  161 

greater  names  than  that  of  Heine — yet  Heine's  existence,  up  to 
the  age  of  thirty,  was  a  constant  struggle  against  poverty  and 
privation,  extending  even  to  privation  of  the  very  means  of  sub- 
sistence. Simpson,  the  mathematician,  a  weaver's  boy,  was 
taken  away  from  the  humble  school  which  he  frequented,  from 
want  of  means  to  keep  him  there.  The  early  struggles  of  our 
great  painter,  Turner,  are  well  known  to  all  who  have  followed 
the  history  of  modern  art  in  the  pages  of  perhaps  the  most  elo- 
quent of  living  English  writers.  I  do  not  multiply  such  exam- 
ples— they  are  recorded  in  a  hundred  familiar  works  ;  but  Scot- 
land, and  Glasgow  especially,  owes  much  to  Buchanan ;  and 
never  more  strikingly  than  in  Buchanan's  case  were  the  hard- 
ships and  trials  of  a  poor  scholar's  life  displayed. 

I  might,  indeed,  carry  the  argument  one  step  further,  and 
say  that,  as  on  the  one  hand  mental  energy  is  stunted  and  chilled 
by  absolute  penury,  and  the  necessity  of  daily  labor  for  daily 
bread,  so  on  the  other  it  is  at  least  as  likely  to  be  repressed  and 
destroyed  by  too  abundant  leisure,  by  the  sense  of  security 
which  belongs  to  an  assured  position,  and  by  the  thousand  op- 
portunities of  easy  enjoyment  which  wealth  and  leisure  confer. 
I  am  not  speaking  here  from  theory.  It  is  a  matter  of 
which  illustrations  occur  in  every-day  existence.  A  mid- 
dle station,  equally  removed  from  poverty  and  luxury,  is  that 
temperate  zone  of  life  (if  I  may  so  speak)  in  which  mental  de- 
velopment appears  most  to  flourish.  And  the  reason  is  simple. 
Work,  as  work,  is  not  pleasant  to  anyone  at  first.  The  tasto 
for  it  is  an  acquired  taste.  It  becomes,  I  believe,  with  some 
men  one  of  the  strongest  tendencies  of  their  nature ;  the  active 
brain  requires  its  accustomed  exercise  as  much  as  the  active 
limbs  need  theirs.  But  the  apprenticeship  in  ninety-nine  cases 
out  of  one  hundred  is  not  pleasant,  and  perhaps  there  is  no  one 
respect  in  which  the  importance  of  early  training  is  more  deeply 
felt.  Men  may  supply,  well  or  ill,  in  later  life,  the  want  of  ac- 
quired knowledge.  They  may  accommodate  their  habits  and 
thoughts  to  the  necessities  of  a  changed  position ;  they  may 
develop  their  natures  in  ways  wholly  unexpected ;  but  one  de- 
fect, I  believe,  can  hardly  ever  be  made  good  when  the  time  of 
youth  and  early  manhood  is  past — or,  if  made  good,  it  can  be 
so  only  as  a  result  of  painful  and  singular  effort :  the  want,  I 
mean,  of  habits  of  steady  application  and  industry.  They  are 
Vol.  II.— ii 


162  EARL   OF    DERBY 

mostly  hard  at  any  age  to  acquire,  but  there  is  this  counter- 
vailing advantage  about  them,  that  once  acquired  they  are  not 
easily  lost. 

To  the  man  who  has  made  intellectual  work  the  habit  of  his 
life  it  is  actual  pain  to  be  long  unemployed.  And,  be  sure  of 
this,  that,  apart  from  all  merely  material  and  practical  results 
(though  I  do  not  undervalue  these),  apart  from  these  chances 
of  rising  in  the  world,  of  professional,  or  literary,  or  artistic 
distinction,  of  which  we  are  perhaps  all  apt  to  think  too  much 
because,  after  all,  they  are  prizes  which  can  fall  to  the  lot  of 
very  few,  and  which  those  who  have  got  them  generally  find 
worth  less  than  they  supposed — apart,  I  say,  from  accidental 
and  adventitious  results,  there  is  no  greater  blessing  for  a  man 
than  to  have  acquired  that  healthy  and  happy  instinct  which 
leads  him  to  take  delight  in  his  work  for  the  work's  sake ;  not 
slurring  it  over,  not  thinking  how  soon  it  will  be  done  and  got 
rid  of,  nor  troubling  himself  greatly  about  what  men  will  say 
of  it  when  it  is  done  (I  suspect  the  best  kind  of  workers  think 
as  little  of  that  as  Newton  did  when  he  hesitated  whether  to 
publish  his  discoveries  or  not),  but  putting  his  whole  heart 
and  mind  into  it,  feeling  that  he  is  master  of  it,  feeling  that 
the  thing  which  he  has  turned  out — be  it  a  legal  argument,  or 
a  book,  or  a  picture,  or  anything  else — is  conscientiously  and 
honestly  perfected  to  the  best  of  his  power. 

Look  at  the  matter  only  from  a  point  of  view  of  a  man's 
personal  happiness  and  welfare.  What  is  the  secret  of  the  low 
amusements,  the  pleasure  that  is  not  pleasure,  with  which  so 
many  unhappy  men  contrive  at  once  to  waste  and  to  shorten 
their  lives?  Why  these  things  are,  in  ninety-nine  cases  out  of 
one  hundred,  merely  the  resources  which  they  adopt  to  fill  up 
vacant  hours — to  get  rid  of  the  intolerable  weariness  of  unem- 
ployed existence — to  kill  the  sense  of  apathy  and  ennui  which  is 
killing  them.  I  am  not  trying  or  desiring  to  lay  down  for  all 
men  a  single  and  uniform  rule.  There  are  some  of  us  who 
seem  born  for  action  rather  than  for  study,  to  whom  abstract 
thought  is  repugnant,  and  who  want  always  to  be  doing  some- 
thing, and  to  see  the  result  of  their  labor  before  them.  There 
are  others  whose  natural  turn  is  rather  for  thinking — for  the 
exercise  of  the  intellectual  powers  purely  and  simply — than  for 
what  are  called,  by  a  somewhat  unmeaning  distinction,  the 


LIFE  AND   CULTURE  163 

practical  pursuits  of  life.  Each  temperament  is  probably  bet- 
ter for  having  some  admixture  of  the  other,  and  the  most 
complete  and  perfect  organization  is  that  which  combines  both 
in  the  most  equal  proportions.  But  there  is  room  in  the  world 
for  both ;  and  no  greater  folly  can  be  committed  by  men  than 
that  of  seeking  to  assimilate  all  individual  character  to  one  and 
the  same  type. 

What  I  do  say  is  that,  whether  the  bent  of  a  man's  mind  be 
study  or  business,  whatever  it  is,  let  him  throw  himself  heartily 
into  it.  I  do  not  believe  that  an  unemployed  man ;  however 
amiable  and  otherwise  irreproachable,  ever  was,  or  ever  can  be, 
really  happy.  Our  work  is  our  life ;  show  me  what  you  can  do 
and  I  will  show  you  what  you  are.  I  have  spoken  of  love  of 
one's  work  as  being  the  best  preventive  of  merely  low  and 
vicious  tastes.  I  will  go  further  and  say  I  believe  it  is  the  best 
preservative  against  petty  anxieties  and  the  annoyances  which 
arise  out  of  indulged  self-love.  Men  have  thought  before  now 
that  they  could  take  a  refuge  from  trouble  and  vexation  by  shel- 
tering themselves,  as  it  were,  in  a  world  of  their  own.  The 
experiment  has  often  been  tried,  and  always  with  one  result. 
You  cannot  escape  from  anxiety  and  labor — it  is  the  destiny 
of  humanity.  You  may  avoid,  indeed  some  at  least  may  to  a 
great  extent,  taking  part  in  the  struggle  of  life  in  the  sharp  and 
eager  competition  of  an  open  profession,  or  the  not  less  intense 
pursuit  of  some  worthy  object  of  study.  But,  by  what  seems 
to  me  a  just  and  wholesome  retribution,  those  who  shrink  from 
facing  trouble  find  that  trouble  comes  to  them.  The  indolent 
man  may  contrive  that  he  shall  have  less  than  his  share  of  the 
world's  work  to  do ;  but  Nature,  proportioning  the  instrument 
to  the  work,  contrives  that  that  little  shall  to  him  be  much  and 
hard.  The  man  who  has  only  himself  to  please  finds,  sooner  or 
later,  and  probably  sooner  rather  than  later,  that  he  has  got  a 
very  hard  master,  and  the  more  excusable  weakness  which 
shrinks  from  responsibility  has  its  own  punishment,  too ;  for 
where  great  interests  are  excluded  little  matters  become  great, 
and  the  same  wear  and  tear  of  mind  that  might  have  been  at 
least  usefully  and  healthfully  expended  on  the  real  business  of 
life  is  often  wasted  on  petty  and  imaginary  vexations  such  as 
breed  and  multiply  in  the  unoccupied  brain. 

There  is  yet  another  point  from  which  I  may  press  upon  you 


164  EARL   OF   DERBY 

the  duty  of  industry.  We  sometimes  hear  it  said,  "  So-and-so 
is  a  man  of  fortune,  who  can  afford  to  do  nothing."  There  are, 
of  course,  in  a  country  like  this  many  thousands  who  do  not 
need  to  earn  their  bread,  or  to  increase  their  income,  and  who, 
perhaps,  would  be  doing  more  harm  than  good  if  they  embarked 
in  any  one  of  our  already  overcrowded  professions.  But  there 
is  a  moral  as  well  as  a  material  aspect  of  these  questions.  No 
one  can  pass  through  his  allotted  term  of  years — no  matter  how 
plainly  and  simply — much  less  can  he  do  so  living  as  the  wealth- 
ier classes  live,  without  profiting  by  and  consuming  the  fruits  of 
other  men's  toil.  All  capital  is  accumulated  labor.  Of  course, 
as  far  as  human  law  and  the  regulations  of  society  go,  he  may 
legitimately  do  that,  rendering  himself  no  labor  in  return,  so 
long  as  he  pays  honestly  for  what  he  uses.  But  if  the  matter 
is  to  be  dealt  with  in  foro  conscicnticc,  I  think  a  scrupulous  and 
high-minded  man  will  always  feel  that  to  pass  out  of  the  world 
in  the  world's  debt — to  have  consumed  much  and  produced 
nothing,  to  have  sat  down,  as  it  were,  at  the  feast  and  gone  away 
without  paying  his  reckoning — is  not,  to  put  it  in  the  mildest 
way,  a  satisfactory  transaction,  however  unimpeachable,  and 
rightly  so,  it  may  be  in  the  eye  of  economical  and  social  law. 
You  cannot  very  well  lay  down  a  formula  for  these  things ;  it 
is  often  easier  to  ask  for  suitable  occupation  than  to  find  it ;  but 
I  think  it  is  only  a  natural  feeling  for  anyone  living  at  his  ease 
to  wish  and  strive  that  at  least  his  country  shall  be  no  loser  by 
him,  that  in  some  form,  by  some  means,  whether  by  speech  or 
writing,  or  useful  action,  no  matter  how  obscure,  he  shall  re- 
place to  the  public  the  expenditure  of  human  labor  that  has  been 
made  upon  him. 

I  know  very  well  that  with  the  best  will  in  the  world  that  feel- 
ing is  not  always  easy  to  act  upon.  It  is  one  thing  to  wish  for 
a  suitable  sphere  of  duty  and  another  to  be  able  to  obtain  one. 
There  are  many  persons  who,  if  not  wholly  idle,  are  yet  unable 
to  employ  their  faculties  as  they  best  might  from  the  mere 
want  of  opportunity.  I  own  that  for  such  persons,  assuming 
the  fault  not  to  rest  with  them,  I  have  more  compassion  than  for 
those  who  may  be  inclined  to  complain  of  the  chances  and 
struggles  of  professional  life.  Overwork,  or  what  we  may  be 
inclined  to  consider  as  such,  is  bad  enough  ;  but  it  is  probably  a 
cause  of  less  suffering  in  the  aggregate  than  the  consciousness 
of  faculties  unused  and  of  energies  which  can  find  no  vent. 


LIFE   AND   CULTURE  165 

But,  gentlemen,  I  do  not  forget  that  in  addressing  you 
I  am  speaking  to  young  men  who,  for  the  most  part,  have  every 
external,  as  well  as  internal,  inducement  to  lead  an  energetic 
and  industrious  life.  To  warn  you,  therefore,  against  mere  in- 
dolence and  neglect  of  opportunities  is,  I  hope,  superfluous.  It 
is  perhaps  more  to  the  purpose  to  ask  you — at  least  to  ask  some 
of  you — to  recollect  that  overwork  and  overhaste  (they  are 
mostly  the  same  thing)  are  as  fatal  as  carelessness.  We  live 
in  days  of  perhaps  overstrained  competition ;  and  even  those 
who,  so  far  as  their  personal  feelings  are  concerned,  would  prob- 
ably be  satisfied  with  moderate  success  and  a  tranquil  career, 
have,  in  most  professions,  hardly  the  choice.  A  rising  law- 
yer cannot  refuse  briefs,  a  young  surgeon  or  physician  cannot 
decline  practice.  It  is  rarely,  I  fancy,  in  the  power  of  any  pro- 
fessional man  to  say,  "  Up  to  such  a  limit  I  will  work,  and 
no  farther."  It  may  be,  for  my  own  part  I  think  it  is,  a  mis- 
fortune that  such  should  be  the  case — that,  from  the  tendency 
of  mankind  to  run  after  well-known  names,  one  competitor 
in  a  profession  should  have  more  labor  cast  upon  him  than 
it  is  physically  possible  that  he  should  attend  to  properly ; 
while  others,  hardly,  if  at  all,  less  capable,  are  standing  by  un- 
employed. But  that  is  a  result — I  suppose  an  inevitable  re- 
sult— of  open  competition  in  a  fair  field,  and  we  can  only  accept 
the  laws  of  the  game  as  we  find  them.  Every  man,  therefore, 
who  works  with  his  brain  must  be  prepared,  in  an  open  pro- 
fession, to  find,  in  the  event  of  obtaining  the  success  which  he 
hopes  for,  that  his  bodily  as  well  as  mental  powers  will  be  taxed 
to  the  utmost.  And  if  that  possibility  is  realized,  the  question, 
all-important  for  him,  whether  he  will  be  able  to  hold  his  own 
or  whether  he  will  break  down,  will  depend  very  much  on  the 
nature  of  his  early  training. 

This  is  a  subject  on  which  there  exists,  I  think,  a  good  deal 
of  prejudice  and  want  of  information.  We  have  often  heard  of 
men  crushed  in  youth  by  excessive  mental  strain.  That  such 
cases  do  occur  I  cannot  in  the  face  of  evidence  deny.  But  I 
believe  that  nine  times  out  of  ten  they  are  the  result  of  simple 
mismanagement.  I  doubt  whether — speaking  of  young  men, 
not  of  very  young  boys  or  children — honest  work,  steadily  and 
regularly  carried  on,  ever  yet  hurt  anybody.  The  men  who  fail, 
and  whose  failure  is  pointed  to  as  an  illustration  of  the  evils  of 


1 66  EARL  OF   DERBY 

over-study,  are  generally  those  who,  rashly  and  foolishly,  try 
to  make  up  for  past  neglect  by  excessive  temporary  efforts ; 
or  else  those  who,  absorbed  in  a  single  idea,  and  possibly  ignor- 
ant of  their  own  physical  constitution,  overlook  the  most  ordin- 
ary requirements  of  bodily  health.  We  used  to  say  at  Cam- 
bridge that  any  man  who  had  it  in  him  to  become  a  senior 
wrangler — that  is,  to  take  the  highest  honor  known  to  the  uni- 
versity in  the  driest  and  most  laborious  branch  of  study — could 
do  so  by  means  of  six  or  seven  hours'  reading  in  the  twenty-four. 
Never  to  hurry,  never  except  for  some  brief  interval  wholly  to 
relax — to  remember  that  neglected  bodily  health  involves  a 
weakened  brain,  and  that  it  is  possible  to  wear  out  in  preparation 
the  strength  that  should  be  reserved  for  the  final  effort — above 
all,  to  content  one's  self  with  the  idea  that  one  is  doing  one's 
best,  and  to  await  the  event  with  as  little  of  worry  or  anxiety  as 
is  compatible  with  the  infirmity  of  nature — these  are,  I  know, 
very  simple  and  homely  rules,  but  for  being  simple  they  are 
not  less  true ;  and  though  assuredly  I  do  not  say  to  anyone 
that  their  observance  is  a  guarantee  for  well-doing,  I  believe  it 
will,  to  say  the  least,  strike  off  from  the  list  certain  causes  of 
otherwise  inevitable  failure.  There  is  nothing  new  to  be  said  in 
these  matters.  The  mens  sana  in  corpore  sano  is,  as  much  now 
as  it  was  two  thousand  years  ago,  the  most  rational  object  of 
human  wishes,  and  the  most  necessary  condition  of  human 
success. 

One  word,  and  only  one  word,  more  on  this  subject.  I  am 
convinced  that  as  a  rule  we  overrate — I  think  our  tendency  is 
enormously  to  overrate — the  difference  between  men's  powers 
for  purposes  of  practical  action.  Of  course,  these  differences, 
after  all  deductions  made,  remain  very  great.  But  it  is  a  mat- 
ter of  common  observation  in  every  profession,  even  the 
most  intellectual — I  think  I  have  noticed  it  myself  again  and 
again — how  often  the  very  acutest  intellects,  for  some  reason  or 
another,  do  not  seem  able  to  procure  for  their  possessors  the 
first  place  ;  while  that  place  is  often  secured  and  kept  by  powers 
which  seem,  and  which,  intellectually  considered,  are  very 
greatly  inferior.  I  believe  that  with  no  extraordinary  quick- 
ness or  brilliancy,  but  with  perseverance,  memory,  accuracy, 
and  that  soundness  of  judgment  which  habits  of  patient  inquiry 
confer — all  qualities  with  which  cultivation  has  more  to  do  than 


LIFE   AND   CULTURE  167 

nature — a  man  may  rise  very  high  in  almost  any  department  of 
human  labor,  and  may  pass  by  in  the  race  many  whom  at  school 
or  at  college,  or  possibly  even  in  later  life,  he  regarded  as  hope- 
lessly superior  to  himself.  But  of  all  these  qualities,  for 
every  purpose,  whether  for  action  or  speculation,  I  hold  that 
one  to  be  most  valuable  which  it  is  almost  entirely  within  our 
own  power  to  acquire,  and  which  nature  unassisted  never  yet 
gave  to  any  man.  I  mean  a  perfectly  accurate  habit  of  thought 
and  expression.  This  is,  as  far  as  I  can  see,  one  of  the  very  rarest 
acquirements.  For  it  implies  a  good  deal — carefulness,  close 
attention  to  details,  a  certain  power  of  memory,  and  the  habit 
of  distinguishing  between  things  which  are  alike  but  not  iden- 
tical. I  lay  stress  on  this  because  it  seems  to  me  the  character- 
istically distinguishing  mark  of  good  and  faulty  teaching,  of  real 
and  unreal  learning.  The  best  thing  is  to  know  your  subject 
thoroughly — the  next  best  to  know  nothing  about  it,  and  to  be 
aware  that  you  do  know  nothing — the  worst  is  to  know  a  little, 
and  to  know  that  little  vaguely  and  confusedly. 

Much  is  said  in  the  present  day  for  and  against  the  system 
of  competitive  examinations.  Like  most  other  things,  they 
may  have  their  defects,  but  this  advantage  they  undoubtedly 
possess,  that  if  well  managed  they  are  an  effective  check — a 
check,  I  think,  more  effective  than  any  other — on  the  impos- 
ture of  half-knowledge.  What  man  can  write  out  clearly,  cor- 
rectly, and  briefly,  without  book  or  reference  of  any  kind,  that 
he  undoubtedly  knows,  whatever  else  he  may  be  ignorant  of. 
For  knowledge  that  falls  short  of  that — knowledge  that  is 
vague,  hazy,  indistinct,  uncertain — I,  for  one,  profess  no  respect 
at  all.  And  I  believe  that  there  never  was  a  time  nor  a  coun- 
try where  the  influences  of  careful  training  were  in  that  respect 
more  needed.  Men  live  in  haste,  write  in  haste — I  was  going 
to  say  think  in  haste,  only  that  perhaps  the  word  thinking  is 
hardly  applicable  to  that  large  number  who,  for  the  most  part, 
purchase  their  daily  allowance  of  thought  ready  made.  You 
find  ten  times  more  people  now  than  ever  before  who  can  string 
together  words  with  facility  and  with  a  general  idea  of  their 
meaning,  and  who  are  ready  with  a  theory  of  some  kind  about 
most  matters.  All  that  is  very  well  as  far  as  it  goes ;  but  it  is 
one  thing  to  be  able  to  do  this  and  quite  another  to  know  how 
to  use  words  as  they  should  be  used,  or  really  to  have  thought 
out  the  subject  which  you  discuss. 


1 68  EARL   OF    DERBY 

Eor  one  of  these  purposes  there  is,  I  believe,  no  training  bet- 
ter than  the  old  classical  training  whose  merits  are  now  so  much 
disputed.  1  do  not  deny  that  in  English  schools  it  has  been  car- 
ried to  folly  and  pedantry.  I  doubt  if  any  human  being  was 
ever  the  better  or  the  wiser  for  being  set  to  spin  verses  in  a 
foreign  and  dead  language.  But,  speaking  of  the  rational  use 
and  not  the  abuse  of  classical  literature,  I  think  it  has  one  great 
merit  which  is  not  easily  to  be  found  elsewhere.  Even  those 
who  feel  most  strongly  the  incomparably  wider  range  of  mod- 
ern thought  will  seldom  deny  that  in  precision,  in  conciseness, 
in  dignity  of  style,  and  in  verbal  felicity,  the  great  writers  of 
ancient  times  have  scarcely  been  equalled.  It  is  suggestive  to 
think  how,  under  the  influence  of  the  mercantile  principle,  mak- 
ing books  to  be  paid  for  in  proportion,  not  to  their  merits,  but  to 
their  length,  and  of  the  lifelong  hurry  which  prevents  us  from 
studying  condensation,  such  narratives  as  those  of  Caesar  and 
Tacitus  would  in  modern  hands  have  swelled  into  the  dimen- 
sions of  a  modern  historical  composition,  with  the  certain  result 
that  they  would  have  occupied  in  men's  memories  no  more  en- 
during place  than  this  last.  Posterity  preserves  only  what  will 
pack  into  small  compass.  Jewels  are  handed  down  from  age  to 
age ;  less  portable  valuables  tend  to  disappear.  And  do  not 
fancy  that  this  is  a  question  of  words  alone.  You  cannot  sep- 
arate manner  from  matter.  It  is  very  seldom,  I  fancy,  that  clear 
thought  and  confused  expression  go  together.  A  man  can 
hardly  give  pains  and  time  to  the  manner  of  saying  a  thing 
without  the  idea  at  least  crossing  his  mind — what  do  I  really 
mean ?  What  story  have  I  got  to  tell?  What  is  the  upshot  of 
all  this?  I  say,  then,  to  those  whose  leisure  will  allow  it,  do 
not  be  led  into  the  folly  of  treating  classical  study  as  a  thing  anti- 
quated and  useless.  It  is  not  what  people  used  to  think  it,  the 
only  training;  but  it  is  a  training,  and  not  the  worst.  Only 
let  it  be  taken  up  in  earnest,  or  not  at  all.  If  a  young  man  has 
time  and  taste  for  Latin  literature,  so  much,  I  think,  the  better. 
But  a  mere  beginning  of  that — and,  still  more,  a  mere  begin- 
ning both  of  Latin  and  Greek,  which  does  not  last  long  enough 
to  give  familiar  acquaintance  with  either  language — is  sheer 
folly  and  waste  of  time.  In  this,  as  in  everything  else,  a  man 
should  proportion  his  means  to  his  ends,  and  not  begin  by  lay- 
ing the  foundations  of  a  house  three  times  bigger  than  he  can 


LIFE   AND   CULTURE  169 

ever  hope  to  finish.  It  is,  I  think,  the  neglect  of  this  very  ob- 
vious rule,  it  is  the  aiming  at  more  than  can  possibly  be  accom- 
plished in  the  time  allowed  that  more  than  anything  else  has 
tended  to  bring  classical  training  into  disrepute. 

And  what  I  say  to  you  in  regard  to  classics  I  would  extend 
also  to  those  other  studies  whose  importance  is  being  increas- 
ingly recognized  in  every  modern  system  of  education.  I  will 
not  undertake  to  lay  down  a  rule  (I  tell  you  frankly  I  do  not 
see  my  way  to  do  it)  as  to  the  proportion  which  the  cultivation 
of  science  in  its  various  forms  should  bear  to  that  of  literature 
and  language.  We  are  in  a  transition  state  as  regards  these 
matters,  and  it  may  last,  for  aught  I  can  see,  a  long  while  yet. 
Much  must  depend,  I  conceive,  on  individual  taste  and  tem- 
perament— something  on  the  future  destination  of  the  student 
— something  on  the  opportunities  afforded,  and  the  custom  of 
the  time  and  place.  But  this  I  think  I  do  see  clearly — and  it 
adds  to  rather  than  lessens  the  intricacy  of  the  whole  question — 
that,  looking  on  the  one  hand  to  the  immense  range  of  scientific 
knowledge,  and  on  the  other  to  the  inevitable  shortness  of  time 
allotted  for  learning,  in  the  case  of  that  great  majority  whose 
study  here  is  a  mere  introduction  to  active  life,  it  is  idle  to 
suppose  that  the  actual  amount  of  instruction  acquired  can  bear 
any  appreciable  proportion  to  that  which  must  remain  un- 
touched. To  learn  a  little  of  everything  under  the  sun  is  barely 
possible,  and  questionably  useful,  if  it  were  possible.  Com- 
pendia, dispcndia.  The  value  of  all  teaching,  as  I  take  it,  con- 
sists far  less  in  the  facts  acquired  than  in  the  action  on  the  mind 
of  the  individual  produced  by  the  process  of  acquiring  them. 

The  question  which  life  asks  of  us  all  is  not,  "  What  do  you 
know?"  but,  "What  can  you  do?"  I  believe  that  any  one 
study,  steady  and  earnestly  followed,  is  useful  in  that  respect ; 
and  perhaps  the  difference  in  their  respective  values  is  less 
than  we  are  apt  to  suppose.  If  a  man  wants  only  to  train  himself 
to  be  a  good  walker  it  matters  very  little  what  road  he  chooses 
to  walk  upon.  But  more  than  that — if  you  will  allow  me  to 
express  an  opinion  which  I  know  may  provoke  dissent,  but 
which  I  entertain  very  strongly — I  believe  that  no  course  of 
reading  or  lecture-hearing  is  of  much  avail  unless  something  is 
to  follow,  either  in  the  way  of  public  examination — which  I 
hold  to  be  best — or,  failing  that,  of  close  and  careful  self-exami- 


l7o  EARL   OF    DERBY 

nation  by  the  student  himself,  to  test  and  measure  how  much  of 
what  has  been  read  is  retained.  What  is  merely  listened  to  or 
run  over  by  the  eye  is  mostly  forgotten ;  what  has  to  be  assim- 
ilated and  reproduced  in  another  shape  becomes,  as  it  were, 
worked  into  the  very  substance  of  the  brain. 

One  word  more  on  these  points  and  I  shall  have  done.  Every 
age  has  its  fashions,  some  of  them  sensible,  some  very  much  the 
reverse ;  and  one  of  the  literary  fashions  of  our  time  is  to  sneer 
at  and  depreciate  what  is  termed  "  culture,"  as  though  it  tended 
at  best  to  make  men  skilful  in  doing  things,  which,  being  done, 
are  worthless,  and  as  though  there  were  some  natural  connec- 
tion between  strength  of  mind  and  that  kind  of  simplicity  which 
arises  from  ignorance.  It  is  noticeable,  I  think,  that  that  tend- 
ency often  appears  strongest  in  those  whose  own  culture  has 
been  carried  to  the  highest  point ;  and  the  explanation  I  would 
suggest  of  it  is  that  the  discontent  with  what  has  been  ac- 
complished, which  is  characteristic  of  a  stirring  and  progressive 
time,  and  that  painful  sense  of  the  shortness  of  individual  life, 
compared  with  what  has  to  be  learned  and  done  in  it,  takes  in 
such  minds  the  form  of  an  undue  disparagement  of  those  ac- 
quirements which  they  are  conscious  of  possessing,  and  a 
proportionably  excessive  appreciation  of  those  which  they  have 
been  compelled  to  neglect.  As  a  general  rule,  I  think  that 
the  aim  of  a  liberal  education  ought  to  be  not  to  fit  men  for  this 
or  that  special  profession  exclusively,  but  to  supply  such  ac- 
quirements and  to  sharpen  such  faculties  as  shall  be  useful  in 
any  walk  of  life.  It  is  not  good,  I  am  sure,  for  anybody  to  be 
too  early  and  exclusively  buried  in  his  own  special  pursuit. 
If  from  circumstances  it  is  necessary  that  he  should  be,  let 
him  accept  the  necessity  for  that  as  for  any  other  privation, 
without  complaining.  But  do  not  let  him  assert  or  think  that 
it  is  in  itself  a  good.  Law,  medicine,  architecture,  engineering, 
practical  art — all  these  are  pursuits  of  the  highest  usefulness, 
and  even  necessity ;  but  no  man  can  even  dabble  in  them  all ; 
nor  has  the  architect  any  particular  use  for  law ;  nor  the 
lawyer  for  architecture.  What  they  both  want,  what  they  both 
have  a  use  for,  is  accuracy  of  thought,  clearness  of  expression, 
and  that  indefinable  something — excluding  pedantry  on  the  one 
hand  and  vulgar  coarseness  on  the  other — which  marks  the 
man  to  whom  literature  has  been  more  than  the  amusement 
of  a  casual  hour. 


LIFE   AND   CULTURE  171 

You  will  sometimes  hear  it  said — it  is  one  of  the  crotchets  of 
the  day — that  what  is  called  culture  is  unfavorable  to  moral 
earnestness.  Do  not  believe  that.  No  doubt,  like  most  untrue 
opinions,  it  has  a  shadow  of  plausibility.  A  man  whose  ac- 
quirements are  few,  whose  range  of  knowledge  is  scanty  and 
limited,  is  probably  more  apt  than  his  educated  neighbor  to 
throw  himself  into  some  cause  or  controversy  with  an  intense 
and  unreasoning  conviction  that  he  is  right,  and  that  everybody 
else  is  wrong ;  and  he  is  more  likely  also  to  underrate  the  com- 
plexity of  human  affairs,  and  to  overvalue  enormously  the  im- 
portance to  mankind  of  that  particular  subject  which  has 
monopolized  his  attention.  I  do  not  say  that  that  tendency  is 
always  and  under  all  circumstances  injurious.  We  are  but 
weak  at  the  best ;  and,  perhaps,  if  the  best  and  wisest  of  us  all 
could  see  in  how  infinitesimal  a  degree  the  destinies  of  society 
can  be  affected  by  his  utmost  exertions,  such  clear-sightedness 
would  serve  rather  to  damp  than  to  stimulate  his  energy. 
Happily,  one  may  say  in  passing,  there  does  not  seem  the 
slightest  reason  to  apprehend,  in  the  case  of  most  of  us,  any 
process  of  that  kind  taking  place. 

But,  admitting  all  this — admitting  that  knowledge  is  often  a 
check  on  action,  and  that  great  questions  are  often  most  ear- 
nestly taken  up  by  those  who  can  only  see  one  side  of  them — 
I  think  there  can  be  no  doubt  on  which  side  the  balance  of  ad- 
vantage lies.  If  cultivated  apathy  has  done  its  share  of  mischief 
(and  recollect  that  you  are  just  as  likely  to  have  the  apathy  with- 
out the  cultivation),  unreasoning  activity,  enthusiasm  without 
knowledge  or  judgment,  has  done  a  hundred  times  more.  If 
increased  intellectual  light,  or  what  seemed  such,  has  weakened 
some  men's  convictions,  shaken  their  faith  in  the  principles 
which  govern  mankind,  and  left  them  simply  perplexed  and 
helpless  in  face  of  the  great  problems  of  existence,  let  us  point 
on  the  other  hand  to  the  horrible  calamities  which  men,  from 
the  earliest  ages  of  the  world  to  our  own,  have  brought  on  one 
another — not,  we  may  hope,  in  wilful  wickedness,  but  in  the 
confused  struggle  to  defend  errors  ignorantly  and  honestly  mis- 
taken for  truth.  No,  gentlemen,  whatever  may  come  of  it,  let 
us  not  ignore  or  shrink  from  our  responsibility.  Every  one  of 
us  is  bound,  not  merely  to  do  the  thing  which  seems  to  him 
right,  but  to  do  also  what  lies  in  his  power,  that  the  thing  which 


172  EARL   OF   DERBY 

seems  to  him  right  may  be  that  which  really  is  right.  Good  in- 
tentions will  not  help  or  save  you  if  you  take  poison  instead  of 
medicine  ;  and  in  social  matters  we  well  know  that  ignorant 
philanthropy  has  often  caused,  perhaps  often  causes  even  now, 
as  much  mischief  as  could  be  done  by  deliberate  ill-will.  We 
want  zeal.  We  want  earnestness  for  truth  and  justice.  But 
the  zeal  of  ignorance  is  a  poor  affair ;  and  the  earnestness  must 
be  very  shallow  and  unreal  which  will  not  bear  the  strictest 
scrutiny  of  the  objects  to  which  it  is  directed.  Action  is  the 
end  of  all  thought,  but  to  act  justly  and  effectively  you  must 
think  wisely.  The  time  is  not  wasted  which  is  spent  in  laying 
solid  foundations  for  the  future  ;  nor  that  which  soldiers  pass  in 
preparatory  drill  before  they  are  trusted  to  take  the  field. 

Recollect,  too,  that  the  stock  of  intellectual  furniture  which 
a  man  takes  with  him  into  business  or  professional  life  is  not 
likely  to  be  much  increased  afterwards.  With  most  of  us,  I 
fear,  the  faculty  of  receiving  new  ideas  is  the  very  earliest  part 
of  our  organization  that  decays.  Special  acquirements,  profes- 
sional experience,  the  caution  and  prudence  and  tact  that  come 
of  protracted  intercourse  with  the  world,  are  the  growth  of  mid- 
dle age  ;  but  I  suspect  that  most  busy  men  if  they  took  stock  of 
their  intellectual  gains  and  losses,  would  find  that  after  a  cer- 
tain time — say  five-and-thirty,  or  forty — the  former  had  not 
been  considerable.  Make  the  most,  then,  of  your  opportunity, 
for  it  will  not  last  long.  Waste  no  regret  on  the  past  if  it  has 
done  less  for  you  than  it  ought.  There  is  leisure  to  redeem  all 
that.  Dream  no  dreams  of  the  future,  the  future  will  take 
care  of  itself ;  and  whatever  may  be  the  difficulties  you  foresee, 
whatever  the  successes  you  expect,  it  is  a  hundred  to  one  that 
neither  the  former  nor  the  latter  will  come  upon  you  in  the  way 
you  now  anticipate.  But  make  your  footing  good  at  every 
step  you  take ;  do  manfully  the  task  that  is  allotted  to  you, 
know  thoroughly  the  thing  you  have  to  learn,  discipline  your 
energies  without  exhausting  them,  and  have  faith  enough  in 
yourselves  and  in  the  good  sense  of  your  own  fellow-men  to  be- 
lieve that  whatever  temporary  success  may  be  won  by  puffing 
and  quackery  (and,  thank  Heaven,  such  success  is  seldom  more 
than  temporary),  the  capable  workman  mostly  gets  the  tools 
into  his  hands  ;  opportunity  sooner  or  later  comes  to  nearly  all 
who  work  and  wait ;  and  though  I  do  not  contend  that  there  is 


LIFE   AND   CULTURE 


173 


no  such  thing  as  unmerited  failure  or  unrewarded  effort,  yet 
even  in  that  rare  and  painful  case  it  is  something  to  be  able  to 
think  that  you  have  tried  your  best,  that  though  worsted  in  fair 
fight  you  have  done  justice  to  yourself  and  to  yours,  and  that, 
if  advancement  and  fortune  have  not  been  obtained  you  will 
have  at  least  preserved  that  inward  content,  that  sense  of  honest 
self-approval,  with  which  neither  obscurity  nor  poverty  is  an 
unendurable  affliction — without  which,  neither  by  world-wide 
fame  nor  untold  wealth,  can  any  real  and  lasting  happiness  be 
secured. 

Gentlemen,  I  have  nothing  more  to  add.  It  is,  perhaps,  pre- 
sumption on  my  part  to  offer  you  advice  as  I  have  done.  I  only 
ask  you  to  believe  that  it  is  sincerely  given,  and  that  it  comes 
from  one  whose  strongest  sympathies  are  with  intellectual  la- 
bor. I  know  very  well  that  spoken  or  written  counsel  cannot 
avail  much — that  to  each  man  his  own  experience,  his  own  mis- 
takes, are  the  best,  perhaps  the  only  real,  instruction.  May 
your  experience  be  as  painless,  your  mistakes  as  few,  as  is  com- 
patible with  the  conditions  under  which  we  all  live  and  work ; 
and  whatever  you  become,  or  wherever  you  go,  I  think  you  will 
always  keep  a  warm  corner  in  your  hearts  for  that  noble  old 
university  in  which  you  have  had  your  early  training. 


THE     IMMORTALITY     OF     THE     SOUL 


BY 


JOHN     HENRY,     CARDINAL    NEWMAN 


JOHN    HENRY,    CARDINAL   NEWMAN 
1801 — 1890 

John  Henry  Newman  was  the  son  of  a  London  banker,  and  his  early 
days  were  therefore  passed  in  the  comfort  and  ease  which,  in  men  of 
his  spiritual  temperament,  promote  religious  meditation  and  intellectual 
studies.  English  refinement  and  high-breeding  were  in  him  united  with 
freedom  from  materiality  and  physical  grossness.  Newman  was  of  a 
delicate  make;  yet  so  well  were  the  elements  of  his  organization  bal- 
anced, that  he  lived  for  ninety  years,  devoting  his  whole  existence  to 
thought  and  action  upon  the  highest  subjects  that  can  engage  the  human 
mind.  He  was  born  within  a  few  weeks  of  the  birthday  of  the  nine- 
teenth century — on  February  25,  1801. 

He  went  to  Oxford,  where  he  took  his  degree  in  1820,  from  Trinity 
College ;  and  two  years  later  he  was  elected  a  fellow  of  Oriel.  Here 
he  began  his  friendship  with  Edward  Bouverie  Pusey,  whose  influence 
upon  church  thought  and  procedure  was  later  to  become  historical. 
Pusey  was  less  than  a  year  older  than  Newman,  was  also  a  fellow  of 
Oriel,  and  his  mind  tended  to  the  same  lines  of  development  as  did  that 
of  the  future  cardinal. 

In  1832,  Newman  made  a  voyage  up  the  Mediterranean,  which  in  its 
effects  might  be  called  a  religious  sentimental  pilgrimage.  It  was  dur- 
ing this  journey  that  the  poem  or  hymn,  "  Lead,  Kindly  Light,"  was 
composed.  On  returning  to  Oxford,  he  began  to  take  an  active  part 
in  the  religious  discussions  of  that  epoch.  There  had  been  a  strong  drift 
towards  liberalism  in  the  Church  of  England,  and  the  so-called  Oxford 
Movement  was  designed  to  conteract  this,  and  to  bring  the  Church  back 
to  the  primitive  simplicity  and  faith  of  the  Christian  Fathers.  Tracts 
were  written  and  published  with  this  end  in  view,  and  what  is  known 
as  Tractarianism  soon  became  important.  Both  Newman  and  Pusey 
contributed  to  the  propaganda ;  and  the  tone  of  their  writings  gradually 
brought  them  nearer  to  a  belief  which  was  hardly  to  be  distinguished 
from  Roman  Catholicism.  Pusey  was  disbarred  from  preaching  for  three 
years  for  publishing  his  sermon  on  "  The  Holy  Eucharist  a  Comfort  to 
the  Penitent  " ;  and  it  was  from  his  initiative  that  the  practice  of  con- 
fession was  established  among  extreme  ritualists  of  the  Established 
Church.  Pusey,  however,  never  took  the  final  step  which  would  have 
separated  him  from  the  English  communion ;  but  Newman,  though  for 
some  years  he  hoped  that  a  middle  ground  between  the  Roman  and 
the  English  dispensations  might  be  found,  finally  gave  up  that  hope, 
and  in  1843  he  formally  withdrew  from  the  Anglican  Church ;  and 
two  years  afterwards  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  accepted  him  as  a 
convert.  In  1849  he  established  an  English  branch  of  the  Oratory  of 
St.  Philip  Neri,  a  Roman  Catholic  religious  order  founded  in  1575, 
which  is  composed  of  simple  priests,  under  no  vows.  The  latter  part 
of  his  pure  and  tranquil  life  was  spent  in  writing  and  preaching,  and 
under  his  influence,  the  Church  of  Rome  received  many  recruits  from 
England.  Newman's  literary  style  is  exquisite;  and  his  eloquence  as  a 
preacher  had  a  sacred  sweetness  and  fire,  and  a  lofty  gentleness  of  per- 
suasion, unsurpassed  in  his  day. 


176 


THE   IMMORTALITY  OF  THE  SOUL 

What  shall  a  man  give  in  exchange  for  his  soulf — Matt.  xvi.  26 

I  SUPPOSE  there  is  no  tolerably  informed  Christian  but  con- 
siders he  has  a  correct  notion  of  the  difference  between  our 
religion  and  the  paganism  which  it  supplanted.  Every- 
one, if  asked  what  it  is  we  have  gained  by  the  gospel,  will 
promptly  answer,  that  we  have  gained  the  knowledge  of  our 
immortality,  of  our  having  souls  which  will  live  forever;  that 
the  heathen  did  not  know  this,  but  that  Christ  taught  it  and  that 
His  disciples  know  it.  Everyone  will  say,  and  say  truly,  that 
this  was  the  great  and  solemn  doctrine  which  gave  the  gos- 
pel a  claim  to  be  heard  when  first  preached,  which  arrested  the 
thoughtless  multitudes  who  were  busied  in  the  pleasures  and 
pursuits  of  this  life,  awed  them  with  the  vision  of  the  life  to 
come,  and  sobered  them  till  they  turned  to  God  with  a  true 
heart.  It  will  be  said,  and  said  truly,  that  this  doctrine  of  a 
future  life  was  the  doctrine  which  broke  the  power  and  the  fas- 
cination of  paganism.  The  poor  benighted  heathen  were  en- 
gaged in  all  the  frivolities  and  absurdities  of  a  false  ritual,  which 
had  obscured  the  light  of  nature.  They  knew  God,  but  they 
forsook  Him  for  the  inventions  of  men ;  they  made  protectors 
and  guardians  for  themselves ;  and  had  "  gods  many  and  lords 
many."  1  They  had  their  profane  worship,  their  gaudy  proces- 
sions, their  indulgent  creed,  their  easy  observances,  their  sensual 
festivities,  their  childish  extravagance  such  as  might  suitably  be 
the  religion  of  beings  who  were  to  live  for  seventy  or  eighty 
years,  and  then  die  once  for  all,  never  to  live  again.  "  Let  us 
eat  and  drink,  for  to-morrow  we  die,"  was  their  doctrine  and 
their  rule  of  life.  "  To-morrow  we  die ;  "  this  the  Holy  Apostles 
admitted.  They  taught  so  far  as  the  heathen ;  "  To-morrow 
we  die ; "  but  then  they  added,  "  And  after  death  the  judg- 

1  1  Cor.  viii.  5. 

Vol.  II.— 13  177 


178  CARDINAL   NEWMAN 

ment " ;  judgment  upon  the  eternal  soul,  which  lives  in  spite 
of  the  death  of  the  body.  And  this  was  the  truth,  which  awak- 
ened men  to  the  necessity  of  having  a  better  and  deeper  religion 
than  that  which  had  spread  over  the  earth,  when  Christ  came 
— which  so  wrought  upon  them  that  they  left  that  old  false 
worship  of  theirs,  and  it  fell.  Yes !  though  throned  in  all  the 
power  of  the  world,  a  sight  such  as  eye  had  never  before  seen, 
though  supported  by  the  great  and  the  many,  the  magnificence 
of  kings  and  the  stubbornness  of  people,  it  fell.  Its  ruins 
remain  scattered  over  the  face  of  the  earth ;  the  shattered  works 
of  its  great  upholders,  that  fierce  enemy  of  God,  the  pagan 
Roman  Empire.  Those  ruins  are  found  even  among  ourselves, 
and  show  how  marvellously  great  was  its  power,  and  therefore 
how  much  more  powerful  was  that  which  broke  its  power ; 
and  this  was  the  doctrine  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul.  So 
entire  is  the  revolution  which  is  produced  among  men  wherever 
this  high  truth  is  really  received. 

I  have  said  that  every  one  of  us  is  able  fluently  to  speak  of  this 
doctrine,  and  is  aware  that  the  knowledge  of  it  forms  the  funda- 
mental difference  between  our  state  and  that  of  the  heathen. 
And  yet,  in  spite  of  our  being  able  to  speak  about  it  and  our 
"  form  of  knowledge  " 2  (as  St.  Paul  terms  it),  there  seems 
scarcely  room  to  doubt  that  the  greater  number  of  those  who 
are  called  Christians  in  no  true  sense  realize  it  in  their  own 
minds  at  all.  Indeed,  it  is  a  very  difficult  thing  to  bring  home 
to  us,  and  to  feel  that  we  have  souls ;  and  there  cannot  be  a 
more  fatal  mistake  than  to  suppose  we  see  what  the  doctrine 
means  as  soon  as  we  can  use  the  words  which  signify  it.  So 
great  a  thing  is  it  to  understand  that  we  have  souls,  that  the 
knowing  it,  taken  in  connection  with  its  results,  is  all  one  with 
being  serious,  i.e.,  truly  religious.  To  discern  our  immortality 
is  necessarily  connected  with  fear  and  trembling  and  repent- 
ance in  the  case  of  every  Christian.  Who  is  there  but  would 
be  sobered  by  an  actual  sight  of  the  flames  of  hell-fire  and  the 
souls  therein  hopelessly  enclosed  ?  Would  not  all  his  thoughts 
be  drawn  to  that  awful  sight,  so  that  he  would  stand  still,  gazing 
fixedly  upon  it,  and  forgetting  everything  else  ;  seeing  nothing 
else,  hearing  nothing,  engrossed  with  the  contemplation  of  it ; 
and  when  the  sight  was  withdrawn,  still  having  it  fixed  in  his 

a  Rom.  ii.  20. 


THE   IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL  179 

memory,  so  that  he  would  be  henceforth  dead  to  the  pleasures 
and  employments  of  this  world,  considered  in  themselves,  think- 
ing of  them  only  in  their  reference  to  that  fearful  vision  ?  This 
would  be  the  overpowering  effect  of  such  a  disclosure,  whether 
it  actually  led  a  man  to  repentance  or  not.  And  thus  absorbed 
in  the  thought  of  the  life  to  come  are  they  who  really  and 
heartily  receive  the  words  of  Christ  and  His  Apostles.  Yet  to 
this  state  of  mind,  and  therefore  to  this  true  state  of  knowledge, 
the  multitude  of  men  called  Christians  are  certainly  strangers ; 
a  thick  veil  is  drawn  over  their  eyes  ;  and  in  spite  of  their  being 
being  able  to  talk  of  the  doctrine,  they  are  as  if  they  never  had 
heard  of  it.  They  go  on  just  as  the  heathen  did  of  old  ;  they  eat, 
they  drink  ;  or  they  amuse  themselves  in  vanities,  and  live  in  the 
world,  with  fear  and  without  sorrow,  just  as  if  God  had  not 
declared  that  their  conduct  in  this  life  would  decide  their  destiny 
in  the  next ;  just  as  if  they  either  had  no  souls,  or  had  nothing 
or  little  to  do  with  the  saving  of  them,  which  was  the  creed  of 
the  heathen. 

Now  let  us  consider  what  it  is  to  bring  home  to  ourselves  that 
we  have  souls,  and  in  what  the  special  difficulty  of  it  lies ;  for 
this  may  be  of  use  to  us  in  our  attempt  to  realize  that  awful 
truth. 

We  are  from  our  birth  apparently  dependent  on  things  about 
us.  We  see  and  feel  that  we  could  not  live  or  go  forward  with- 
out the  aid  of  man.  To  a  child  this  world  is  everything;  he 
seems  to  himself  a  part  of  this  world — a  part  of  this  world  in  the 
same  sense  in  which  a  branch  is  part  of  a  tree ;  he  has  little 
notion  of  his  own  separate  and  independent  existence,  that  is,  he 
has  no  just  idea  he  has  a  soul.  He  views  himself  merely  in  his 
connection  with  this  world,  which  is  his  all ;  he  looks  to  this 
world  for  his  good  as  to  an  idol ;  and  when  he  tries  to  look 
beyond  this  life  he  is  able  to  discern  nothing  in  prospect,  be- 
cause he  has  no  idea  of  anything,  nor  can  fancy  anything,  but 
this  life.  And  if  he  is  obliged  to  fancy  anything,  he  fancies  this 
life  over  again ;  just  as  the  heathen,  when  they  reflected  on 
those  traditions  of  another  life,  which  were  floating  among 
them,  could  but  fancy  the  happiness  of  the  blessed  to  consist 
in  the  enjoyment  of  the  sun,  and  the  sky,  and  the  earth,  as  be- 
fore, only  as  if  these  were  to  be  more  splendid  than  they  are  now. 

To  understand  that  we  have  souls  is  to  feel  our  separation 


180  CARDINAL   NEWMAN 

from  things  visible,  our  independence  of  them,  our  distinct  ex- 
istence in  ourselves,  our  individuality,  our  power  of  acting  for 
ourselves  this  way  or  that  way,  our  accountableness  for  what 
we  do.  These  are  the  great  truths  which  lie  wrapped  up  in- 
deed even  in  a  child's  mind,  and  which  God's  grace  can  unfold 
there  in  spite  of  the  influence  of  the  external  world  ;  but  at  first 
this  outward  world  prevails.  We  look  off  from  self  to  the  things 
around  us,  and  forget  ourselves  in  them.  Such  is  our  state — a 
depending  for  support  on  the  reeds  which  are  no  stay,  and  over- 
looking our  real  strength — at  the  time  when  God  begins  His 
process  of  reclaiming  us  to  a  truer  view  of  our  place  in  His 
great  system  of  providence.  And  when  He  visits  us,  then  in  a 
little  while  there  is  a  stirring  within  us.  The  unprofitableness 
and  feebleness  of  the  things  of  this  world  are  forced  upon  our 
minds ;  they  promise  but  cannot  perform,  they  disappoint  us. 
Or,  if  they  do  perform  what  they  promise,  still  (so  it  is)  they  do 
not  satisfy  us.  We  still  crave  for  something,  we  do  not  well 
know  what ;  but  we  are  sure  it  is  something  which  the  world 
has  not  given  us.  And  then  its  changes  are  so  many,  so  sudden, 
so  silent,  so  continual.  It  never  leaves  changing;  it  goes  on 
to  change,  till  we  are  quite  sick  at  heart ;  then  it  is  that 
our  reliance  on  it  is  broken.  It  is  plain  we  cannot  continue  to 
depend  upon  it  unless  we  keep  pace  with  it  and  go  on  changing 
too;  but  this  we  cannot  do.  We  feel  that,  while  it  changes, 
we  are  one  and  the  same ;  and  thus  under  God's  blessing  we 
come  to  have  some  glimpse  of  the  meaning  of  our  independence 
of  things  temporal,  and  our  immortality.  And  should  it  so 
happen  that  misfortunes  come  upon  us  (as  they  often  do),  then 
still  more  are  we  led  to  understand  the  nothingness  of  this 
world  ;  then  still  more  are  we  led  to  distrust  it,  and  are  weaned 
from  the  love  of  it,  till  at  length  it  floats  before  our  eyes  merely 
as  some  idle  veil,  which,  notwithstanding  its  many  tints,  cannot 
hide  the  view  of  what  is  beyond  it — and  we  begin  by  degrees  to 
perceive  that  there  are  but  two  things  in  the  whole  universe — 
our  own  soul,  and  the  God  who  made  it. 

Sublime,  unlooked-for  doctrine,  yet  most  true!  To  every 
one  of  us  there  are  but  two  beings  in  the  whole  world,  himself 
and  God ;  for,  as  to  this  outward  scene,  its  pleasures  and  pur- 
suits, its  honors  and  cares,  its  contrivances,  its  personages,  its 
kingdoms,  its  multitude  of  busy  slaves,  what  are  they  to  us? 


THE    IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL  181 

Nothing — no  more  than  a  show.  '  The  world  passeth  away 
and  the  lust  thereof."  And  as  to  those  others  nearer  to  us, 
who  are  not  to  be  classed  with  the  vain  world,  I  mean  our 
friends  and  relations,  whom  we  are  right  in  losing,  these,  too, 
after  all,  are  nothing  to  us  here.  They  cannot  really  help  or 
profit  us ;  we  see  them,  and  they  act  upon  us  only  (as  it  were) 
at  a  distance,  through  the  medium  of  sense ;  they  cannot  get  at 
our  souls ;  they  cannot  enter  into  our  thoughts,  or  really  be 
companions  to  us.  In  the  next  world  it  will,  through  God's 
mercy,  be  otherwise  ;  but  here  we  enjoy,  not  their  presence,  but 
the  anticipation  of  what  one  day  shall  be ;  so  that,  after  all, 
they  vanish  before  the  clear  vision  we  have,  first,  of  our  own 
existence,  next  of  the  presence  of  the  great  God  in  us  and  over 
:s,  as  our  governor  and  judge,  who  dwells  in  us  and  by  our  con- 
science, which  is  His  representative. 

A.  id  now  consider  what  a  revolution  will  take  place  in  the 
mind  that  is  not  utterly  reprobate,  in  proportion  as  it  realizes 
this  relation  between  itself  and  the  Most  High  God.  We  never 
in  this  life  can  fully  understand  what  is  meant  by  our  living  for- 
ever, but  we  can  understand  what  is  meant  by  this  world's  not 
living  forever,  by  its  dying  never  to  rise  again.  And,  learning 
this,  we  learn  that  we  owe  it  no  service,  no  allegiance,  it  has  no 
claim  over  us,  and  can  do  us  no  material  good  nor  harm.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  law  of  God  written  on  our  hearts  bids  us  serve 
Him,  and  partly  tells  us  how  to  serve  Him,  and  Scripture  com- 
pletes the  precepts  which  nature  began.  And  both  Scripture 
and  conscience  tell  us  we  are  answerable  for  what  we  do,  and 
that  God  is  a  righteous  judge ;  and,  above  all,  our  Saviour,  as 
our  visible  Lord  God,  takes  the  place  of  the  world  as  the  only 
begotten  of  the  Father,  having  shown  himself  openly,  that  we 
may  not  say  that  God  is  hidden.  And  thus  a  man  is  drawn 
Forward  by  all  manner  of  powerful  influences  to  turn  from 
things  temporal  to  things  eternal,  to  deny  himself,  to  take  up 
his  cross  and  follow  Christ.  For  there  are  Christ's  awful  threats 
and  warnings  to  make  him  serious,  His  precepts  to  attract  and 
elevate  him,  His  promises  to  cheer  him,  His  gracious  deeds  and 
sufferings  to  humble  him  to  the  dust,  and  to  bind  his  heart  once 
and  forever  in  gratitude  to  Him  who  is  so  surpassing  in  mercy. 
All  these  things  act  upon  him ;  and,  as  truly  as  St.  Matthew 
rose  from  the  receipt  of  custom  when  Christ  called,  heedless 


182  CARDINAL   NEWMAN 

what  bystanders  would  say  of  him,  so  they  who,  through  grace, 
obey  the  secret  voice  of  God,  move  onward  contrary  to  the 
world's  way,  and  careless  what  mankind  may  say  of  them,  as 
understanding  that  they  have  souls,  which  is  the  one  thing  they 
have  to  care  about. 

I  am  well  aware  that  there  are  indiscreet  teachers  gone  forth 
into  the  world,  who  use  language  such  as  I  have  used,  but  mean 
something  very  different.  Such  are  they  who  deny  the  grace  of 
baptism,  and  think  that  a  man  is  converted  to  God  all  at  once. 
But  I  have  no  need  now  to  mention  the  difference  between 
their  teaching  and  that  of  Scripture.  Whatever  their  peculiar 
errors  are,  so  far  as  they  say  that  we  are  by  nature  blind  and 
sinful,  and  must,  through  God's  grace  and  our  own  endeavors, 
learn  that  we  have  souls  and  rise  to  a  new  life,  severing  ourselves 
from  the  world  that  is,  and  walking  in  what  is  unseen  and 
future,  so  far  they  say  true,  for  they  speak  the  words  of  Scrip- 
ture ;  which  says,  "  Awake  thou  that  sleepest,  and  arise  from 
the  dead,  and  Christ  shall  give  thee  light.  See,  then,  that  ye 
walk  circumspectly,  not  as  fools,  but  as  wise,  redeeming  the 
time,  because  the  days  are  evil.  Wherefore  be  ye  not  unwise, 
but  understanding  what  the  will  of  the  Lord  is."  3 

Let  us,  then,  seriously  question  ourselves,  and  beg  of  God 
grace  to  do  so  honestly,  whether  we  are  loosened  from  the  world  ; 
or  whether,  living  as  dependent  on  it,  and  not  on  the  eternal  au- 
thor of  our  being,  we  are  in  fact  taking  our  portion  with  this 
perishing  outward  scene,  and  ignorant  of  our  having  souls.  I 
know  very  well  that  such  thoughts  are  distasteful  to  the  minds 
of  men  in  general.  Doubtless,  many  a  one  there  is,  who,  on  hear- 
ing doctrines  such  as  I  have  been  insisting  on,  says  in  his  heart 
that  religion  is  thus  made  gloomy  and  repulsive  ;  that  he  would 
attend  to  a  teacher  who  spoke  in  a  less  severe  way ;  and  that  in 
fact  Christianity  was  not  intended  to  be  a  dark,  burdensome  law, 
but  a  religion  of  cheerfulness  and  joy.  This  is  what  young 
people  think,  though  they  do  not  express  it  in  this  argumenta- 
tive form.  They  view  a  strict  life  as  something  offensive  and 
hateful ;  they  turn  from  the  notion  of  it.  And  then,  as  they 
get  older  and  see  more  of  the  world,  they  learn  to  defend  their 
opinion,  and  express  it  more  or  less  in  the  way  in  which  I  have 
just  put  it.     They  hate  and  oppose  the  truth,  as  it  were  upon 

a  Eph.  v.  14-17. 


THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL  183 

principle ;  and  the  more  they  are  told  that  they  have  souls  the 
more  resolved  they  are  to  live  as  if  they  had  not  souls.  But  let 
us  take  it  as  a  clear  point  from  the  first,  and  not  to  be  disputed, 
that  religion  must  ever  be  difficult  to  those  who  neglect  it.  All 
things  that  we  have  to  learn  are  difficult  at  first ;  and  our  duties 
to  God,  and  to  man  for  His  sake,  are  peculiarly  difficult,  because 
they  call  upon  us  to  take  up  a  new  life,  and  quit  the  love  of  this 
world  for  the  next.  It  cannot  be  avoided ;  we  must  fear  and 
be  in  sorrow  before  we  can  rejoice.  The  gospel  must  be  a  bur- 
den before  it  comforts  and  brings  us  peace.  No  one  can  have 
his  heart  cut  away  from  the  natural  objects  of  its  love  without 
pain  during  the  process,  and  throbbings  afterwards.  This  is 
plain  from  the  nature  of  the  case ;  and,  however  true  it  be  that 
this  or  that  teacher  may  be  harsh  and  repulsive,  yet  he  cannot 
materially  alter  things.  Religion  is  in  itself  at  first  a  weariness 
to  the  worldly  mind,  and  it  requires  an  effort  and  a  self-denial 
in  everyone  who  honestly  determines  to  be  religious. 

But  there  are  other  persons  who  are  far  more  hopeful  than 
those  I  have  been  speaking  of,  who,  when  they  hear  repen- 
tance and  newness  of  life  urged  on  them,  are  frightened  at 
the  thought  of  the  greatness  of  the  work  ;  they  are  disheartened 
at  being  told  to  do  so  much.  Now  let  it  be  well  understood 
that  to  realize  our  own  individual  accountableness  and  immor- 
tality, of  which  I  have  been  speaking,  is  not  required  of  them 
all  at  once.  I  never  said  a  person  was  not  in  a  hopeful  way 
who  did  not  thus  fully  discern  the  world's  vanity  and  the  worth 
of  his  soul.  But  a  man  is  truly  in  a  very  desperate  way  who 
does  not  wish,  who  does  not  try,  to  discern  and  feel  all  this.  I 
want  a  man  on  the  one  hand  to  confess  his  immortality  with 
his  lips,  and  on  the  other  to  live  as  if  he  tried  to  understand 
his  own  words,  and  then  he  is  in  the  way  of  salvation ;  he  is  in 
the  way  towards  heaven,  even  though  he  has  not  yet  fully  eman- 
cipated himself  from  the  fetters  of  this  world.  Indeed  none  of 
us  (of  course)  are  entirely  loosened  from  the  world.  We  all 
use  words,  in  speaking  of  our  duties,  higher  and  fuller  than  we 
really  understand.  No  one  entirely  realizes  what  is  meant  by 
his  having  a  soul ;  even  the  best  of  men  is  but  in  a  state  of  prog- 
ress towards  the  simple  truth ;  and  the  most  weak  and  ignorant 
of  those  who  seek  after  it  cannot  but  be  in  progress.  And 
therefore  no  one  need  be  alarmed  at  hearing  that  he  has  much 


184  CARDINAL   NEWMAN 

to  do  before  he  arrives  at  a  right  view  of  his  own  condition 
in  God's  sight,  i.e.,  at  faith ;  for  we  all  have  much  to  do,  and 
the  great  point  is,  are  we  willing  to  do  it? 

Oh,  that  there  were  such  a  heart  in  us  to  put  aside  this  visible 
world,  to  desire  to  look  at  it  as  a  mere  screen  between  us  and 
God,  and  to  think  of  Him  who  has  entered  in  beyond  the  veil, 
and  who  is  watching  us,  trying  us,  yes,  and  blessing,  and  in- 
fluencing, and  encouraging  us  towards  good  day  by  day !  Yet, 
alas,  how  do  we  suffer  the  mere  varying  circumstances  of  every 
day  to  sway  us !  How  difficult  it  is  to  remain  firm  and  in  one 
mind  under  the  seductions  or  terrors  of  the  world !  We  feel 
variously  according  to  the  place,  time,  and  people  we  are  with. 
We  are  serious  on  Sunday,  and  we  sin  deliberately  on  Monday. 
We  rise  in  the  morning  with  remorse  at  our  offences  and  resolu- 
tions of  amendment,  yet  before  night  we  have  transgressed 
again.  The  mere  change  of  society  puts  us  into  a  new  frame  of 
mind;  nor  do  we  sufficiently  understand  this  great  weakness 
of  ours,  or  seek  for  strength  where  alone  it  can  be  found,  in 
the  unchangeable  God.  What  will  be  our  thoughts  in  that  day, 
when  at  length  this  outward  world  drops  away  altogether,  and 
we  find  ourselves  where  we  ever  have  been,  in  His  presence, 
with  Christ  standing  at  His  right  hand? 

On  the  contrary,  what  a  blessed  discovery  it  is  to  those  who 
make  it,  that  this  world  is  but  vanity  and  without  substance ; 
and  that  really  they  are  ever  in  their  Saviour's  presence.  This 
is  a  thought  which  it  is  scarcely  right  to  enlarge  upon  in  a 
mixed  congregation,  where  there  may  be  some  who  have  not 
given  their  hearts  to  God;  for  why  should  the  privileges  of 
the  true  Christian  be  disclosed  to  mankind  at  large,  and  sacred 
subjects,  which  are  his  peculiar  treasure,  be  made  common 
to  the  careless  liver?  He  knows  his  blessedness,  and  needs 
not  another  to  tell  it  him.  He  knows  in  whom  he  has  believed ; 
and  in  the  hour  of  danger  or  trouble  he  knows  what  is  meant 
by  that  peace  which  Christ  did  not  explain  when  He  gave  it  to 
His  Apostles,  but  merely  said  it  was  not  as  the  world  could  give. 

"  Thou  wilt  keep  him  in  perfect  peace  whose  mind  is  stayed  on 
Thee ;  because  he  trusteth  in  Thee.  Trust  ye  in  the  Lord  for- 
ever :  for  in  the  Lord  Jehovah  is  everlasting  strength."  * 

*  Isaiah,  xxvi.  3,  4. 


CHOICE    EXAMPLES    OF    EARLY    PRINTING    AND 

ENGRAVING. 

Fac-similes  from  Rare  and  Curious  Books. 


/■:.  1 RL  Y   1 TENE  TIAN  PRIX  TING. 

Roman  missal  printed  al  Venice  in  1520  by  Lucanlonio  de  Giunta. 

bination  of  red-lettering  and    :  1  white  border  which  produce?  an 

ninently  rich  and  majestic.     At  tie  summit  of  the  border  St.  I'eter  >s 
at  a  conferen  e  apostles.     Beneath  this  picture  is  a 

second,  narrower  border  decorated  with   tw<  Is,  in  true  Roman 

fashion,  are  developed  into  dou  d  ornaments.     Tins  narrower 

border  is  continued  down  the  two  inner  e  panels,  in  which  are 

a  Ion.  nts   and  utensils.     On  the  right  is  the  1 

below  il  -opal  mitre,  pastoral  staffs,  chalices,  candlesticks,  rosarii 

.  the  two   keys.  ..  ruets  on  a  tray. 

who).  arranged  on  a  i  entral  line  and  the  general 

h    I      1    1  harmonious   distribution  ol   while  and   Mack— somewhat   bizarre 
and  lace-like,  linely   decorative.      I  re 


en  annorariombuo  in  margmc 

adfacillime  oiaque  iipfo  ad 

alias  paginal  reunttuntr 

muenicda:£tqiyl  alicui* 

fancii  mifla  iperfecta  a 

noranise  locne  vui 

inquitioebcat/^ft, 

fupcr  en  figtma 

fcmuirarumac 

euangelio^imna  eroinantt/ 

bus  mrta  materia  eorema  oi/ 

ligenriflime  accommodate 


Jiutamamoumm  flcgiamaflo:enun»m,il?b.ojrj 


ON  THE  EFFECTS  OF  PROTECTION 


BY 


RICHARD  COBDEN 


RICHARD  COBDEN 
1804— 1865 

Richard  Cobden  was  a  man  whom  the  English  people  loved,  and 
who  is  held  in  affectionate  remembrance  by  Americans,  both  on  account 
of  his  labors  for  the  welfare  of  humanity,  and  because,  during  the  Civil 
War,  he  supported  the  cause  of  the  North.  He  was  born  in  Sussex  in 
1804,  and  died  in  London  in  1865;  and  it  was  said  by  the  man  who 
knew  him  best  that  his  was  "  the  manliest  and  gentlest  spirit  that  ever 
tenanted  or  quitted  a  human  breast." 

When  a  man  of  pure  character  and  single  ability  devotes  his  entire 
life  to  advocating  a  measure  of  enlightened  reform  and  philanthropy, 
the  odds  are  in  his  favor;  and  Cobden,  in  his  support  of  free  trade,  and 
of  the  repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws,  seems  not  only  to  have  reaped  the 
natural  reward  of  his  persistent  exertions,  but  to  have  been  favored  by 
Providence.  His  youth  made  him  acquainted  with  the  evils  of  poverty 
brought  about  by  errors  of  political  economy;  and  his  young  manhood 
was  passed  in  a  situation  where  he  could  personally  examine  the  state 
of  English  industries,  and  the  condition  and  needs  of  the  working 
people.  By  the  time  his  investigation  had  enabled  him  to  formulate 
a  policy  by  which  the  pressure  of  hard  times  could  be  relieved,  he  had 
accumulated,  by  the  calico-printing  industry,  a  fortune  sufficient  to 
support  him  while  engaged  in  the  work  of  impressing  his  views  upon 
Parliament  and  the  people;  and  for  seven  years  he  applied  himself  to 
this  duty  with  such  surprising  energy,  faith,  and  ability,  that  the  end 
was  victory.  He  instituted  a  vast  propaganda,  involving  a  house-to- 
house  visitation  throughout  England,  distributing  pamphlets  which  pre- 
sented the  cause  of  free  trade  in  such  simple  terms  that  anyone  could 
understand  them  ;  and  supplemented  by  open-air  speeches,  in  which  the 
multitude  was  instructed  how  they  might  act  in  order  to  obtain  the 
repeal  of  the  existing  injurious  laws.  Not  less  than  one  hundred  and 
forty  thousand  pounds  was  expended  in  this  work  in  the  course  of  only 
two  years ;  but  the  results  warranted  the  outlay ;  and  when  all  was 
ready,  a  bad  agricultural  season  created  such  distress  in  the  country  and 
so  powerful  a  feeling  in  favor  of  Cobden's  measures,  that  Parliament 
was  unable  to  withstand  the  pressure,  and  on  June  26,  1846,  the  Reform 
Bill  was  passed.    Since  then  free  trade  has  been  the  policy  of  England. 

Cobden  entered  Parliament  in  1841,  and  at  once  made  his  mark  there 
by  a  speech  on  his  chosen  theme.  In  1854  he  visited  the  United  States, 
and  in  1859  he  again  entered  Parliament.  His  style  of  address  was  plain, 
simple,  and  direct,  backed  by  an  obvious  honesty  of  purpose,  and  great 
keenness  and  persuasiveness  of  argument.  He  was  able  to  move  the 
great  mass  of  the  people,  and  to  stimulate  them  to  action,  in  a  way 
that  no  contemporary  could  rival.  His  speech,  "  On  the  Effects  of 
Protection,"  delivered  in  the  House  on  March  13,  1845,  is  one  of  the 
ablest  and  most  characteristic  speeches  of  his  career. 


186 


ON  THE   EFFECTS   OF   PROTECTION 

Delivered  in  the  House  of  Commons,  March  13,  1845 

SIR:  I  am  relieved  upon  the  present  occasion  from  any 
necessity  for  apologizing  to  the  other  side  of  the  House 
for  the  motion  which  I  am  about  to  submit.  It  will  be 
in  the  recollection  of  honorable  members  that  a  fortnight  before 
putting  this  notice  upon  the  book  I  expressed  a  hope  that  the 
matter  would  be  taken  up  by  some  honorable  member  opposite. 
I  do  not  think,  therefore,  that  in  reply  to  any  observations  I 
may  have  to  make  upon  the  question,  I  shall  hear,  as  I  did  last 
year,  an  observation  that  the  quarter  from  which  this  motion 
came  was  suspicious.  I  may  also  add,  sir,  that  I  have  so  framed 
my  motion  as  to  include  in  it  the  objects  embraced  in  both  the 
amendments  which  are  made  to  it.  I  therefore  conclude,  that 
having  included  the  honorable  gentlemen's  amendments  [Mr. 
Stafford  O'Brien  and  Mr.  Wodehouse],  they  will  not  now  feel  it 
necessary  to  press  them. 

Sir,  the  object  of  this  motion  is  to  appoint  a  select  com- 
mittee to  inquire  into  the  present  condition  of  the  agricultural 
interests ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  ascertain  how  the  laws 
regulating  the  importation  of  agricultural  produce  have  affected 
the  agriculturists  of  this  country.  As  regards  the  distress 
among  farmers,  I  presume  we  cannot  go  to  a  higher  authority 
than  those  honorable  gentlemen  who  profess  to  be  the  farmers' 
friends  and  protectors.  I  find  it  stated  by  those  honorable  gen- 
tlemen who  recently  paid  their  respects  to  the  Prime  Minister 
that  the  agriculturists  are  in  a  state  of  great  embarrassment 
and  distress.  I  find  that  one  gentleman  from  Norfolk  [Mr. 
Hudson]  stated  that  the  farmers  in  the  county  are  paying  their 
rents,  but  paying  them  out  of  capital,  and  not  profits.  I  find 
Mr.  Turner  of  Upton,  in  Devonshire,  stating  that  one-half  of  the 
smaller  farmers  in  that  county  are  insolvent,  and  that  the  others 

187 


^8  COBDEN 

are  rapidly  falling  into  the  same  condition ;  that  the  farmers 
with  larger  holdings  are  quitting  their  farms  with  a  view  of 
saving  the  rest  of  their  property  ;  and  that,  unless  some  remedial 
measures  be  adopted  by  this  House,  they  will  be  utterly  ruined. 
The  accounts  which  I  have  given  you  of  those  districts  are 
such  as  I  have  had  from  many  other  sources.  I  put  it  to  honor- 
able gentlemen  opposite  whether  the  condition  of  the  farmers 
in  Suffolk,  Wiltshire,  and  Hampshire,  is  better  than  that  which 
I  have  described  in  Norfolk  and  Devonshire  ?  I  put  it  to  county 
members,  whether — taking  the  whole  of  the  south  of  England, 
from  the  confines  of  Nottinghamshire  to  the  Land's  End — 
whether,  as  a  rule,  the  farmers  are  not  now  in  a  state  of  the 
greatest  embarrassment  ?  There  may  be  exceptions ;  but  I  put 
it  to  them  whether,  as  a  rule,  that  is  not  their  condition  in  all 
parts? 

Then,  sir,  according  to  every  precedent  in  this  House,  this 
is  a  fit  and  proper  time  to  bring  forward  the  motion  of  which  I 
have  given  notice.  I  venture  to  state  that  had  his  grace  of 
Buckingham  possessed  a  seat  in  this  House,  he  would  have  done 
now  what  he  did  when  he  was  Lord  Chandos — have  moved 
this  resolution  which  I  am  now  about  to  move.  The  distress  of 
the  farmers  being  admitted,  the  next  question  which  arises  is, 
What  is  its  cause?  I  feel  a  greater  necessity  to  bring  forward 
this  motion  for  a  committee  of  inquiry,  because  I  find  great 
discrepancies  of  opinion  among  honorable  gentlemen  opposite 
as  to  what  is  the  cause  of  the  distress  among  the  farmers.  In 
the  first  place  there  is  a  discrepancy  as  to  the  generality  or 
locality  of  the  existing  distress.  I  find  the  right  honorable 
baronet  at  the  head  of  the  Government  [Sir  Robert  Peel]  saying 
that  the  distress  is  local ;  and  he  moreover  says  it  does  not  arise 
from  the  legislation  of  this  House.  The  honorable  member  for 
Dorsetshire  declares,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  distress  is 
general,  and  that  it  does  not  arise  from  legislation.  I  am  at  a 
loss  to  understand  what  this  protection  to  agriculture  means, 
because  I  find  such  contradictory  accounts  given  in  this  House 
by  the  promoters  of  that  system.  For  instance,  nine  months 
ago,  when  my  honorable  friend,  the  member  for  Wolverhamp- 
ton [Mr.  Villiers],  brought  forward  his  motion  for  the  abolition 
of  the  Corn  Laws,  the  right  honorable  gentleman,  then  the 
President  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  in  replying  to  him,  said  that 


ON  THE  EFFECTS  OF  PROTECTION       189 

the  present  Corn  Law  had  been  most  successful  in  its  opera- 
tions. He  took  great  credit  to  the  government  for  the  steadi- 
ness of  price  that  was  obtained  under  that  law.  I  will  read  you 
the  quotation,  because  we  find  these  statements  so  often  contro- 
verted.   He  said : 

"  Was  there  any  man  who  had  supported  the  law  in  the  year 
1842  who  could  honestly  say  that  he  had  been  disappointed  in 
its  workings  ?  Could  anyone  point  out  a  promise  or  a  predic- 
tion hazarded  in  the  course  of  the  protracted  debates  upon  the 
measure,  which  promise  or  prediction  had  been  subsequently 
falsified  ?  " 

Now,  recollect  that  the  right  honorable  gentleman  was  speak- 
ing when  wheat  was  fifty-six  shillings  per  quarter,  and  that 
wheat  is  now  forty-five  shillings.  The  right  honorable  baronet 
at  the  head  of  the  Government  now  says :  ;<  My  legislation  has 
had  nothing  to  do  with  wheat  at  forty-five  shillings  a  quarter  "  ; 
but  how  are  we  to  get  over  the  difficulty  that  the  responsible 
member  of  Government  at  the  head  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  only 
nine  months  ago,  claimed  merit  for  the  Government  having  kept 
up  the  price  of  wheat  at  fifty-six  shillings  ?  These  discrepancies 
themselves  between  the  Government  and  its  supporters,  render 
it  more  and  more  necessary  that  this  question  of  protection 
should  be  inquired  into.  I  ask,  What  does  it  mean  ?  The  price 
of  wheat  is  forty-five  shillings  this  day.  I  have  been  speaking 
to  the  highest  authority  in  England  upon  this  point — one  who  is 
often  quoted  by  this  House — within  the  last  week,  and  he  tells 
me,  that  with  another  favorable  harvest,  he  thinks  it  very  likely 
that  wheat  will  be  thirty-five  shillings  a  quarter.  What  does 
this  legislation  mean,  or  what  does  it  purport  to  be,  if  you  are 
to  have  prices  fluctuating  from  fifty-six  shillings  down  to  thirty- 
five  shillings  a  quarter,  and  probably  lower?  Can  you  prevent 
it  by  the  legislation  of  this  House  ?  That  is  the  question.  There 
is  a  great  delusion  spread  abroad  amongst  the  farmers ;  and 
it  is  the  duty  of  this  House  to  have  that  delusion  dissipated  by 
inquiring  into  the  matter. 

Now,  there  are  these  very  different  opinions  on  the  other 
side  of  the  House ;  but  there  are  members  upon  this  side  repre- 
senting very  important  interests,  who  think  that  farmers  are 
suffering  because  they  have  this  legislative  protection.  There 
is  all  this  difference  of  opinion.    Now,  is  not  that  a  fit  and  proper 


190  COBDEN 

subject  for  your  inquiry?  I  am  prepared  to  go  into  a  select 
committee,  and  to  bring  forward  evidence  to  show  that  the 
farmers  are  laboring  under  great  evils — evils  that  I  would  con- 
nect with  the  legislation  of  this  House,  though  they  are  evils 
which  appear  to  be  altogether  dissociated  from  it.  The  first 
great  evil  under  which  the  farmer  labors  is  the  want  of  capital. 
No  one  can  deny  that.  I  do  not  mean  at  all  to  disparage  the 
farmers.  The  farmers  of  this  country  are  just  the  same  race 
as  the  rest  of  us ;  and,  if  they  were  placed  in  a  similar  position, 
theirs  would  be  as  good  a  trade — I  mean  that  they  would  be  as 
successful  men  of  business — as  others ;  but  it  is  notorious,  as  a 
rule,  that  the  farmers  of  this  country  are  deficient  in  capital ; 
and  I  ask,  How  can  any  business  be  carried  on  successfully 
where  there  is  a  deficiency  of  capital  ?  I  take  it  that  honorable 
gentlemen  opposite,  acquainted  with  farming,  would  admit  that 
ten  pounds  an  acre,  on  an  arable  farm,  would  be  a  sufficient 
amount  of  capital  for  carrying  on  the  business  of  farming  suc- 
cessfully. I  will  take  it,  then,  that  ten  pounds  an  acre  would  be 
a  fair  capital  for  an  arable  farm.  I  have  made  many  inquiries 
upon  this  subject  in  all  parts  of  the  kingdom,  and  I  give  it  you 
as  my  decided  conviction,  that  at  this  present  moment  farmers 
do  not  average  five  pounds  an  acre  capital  on  their  farms.  I 
speak  of  England,  and  I  take  England  south  of  the  Trent, 
though,  of  course,  there  are  exceptions  in  every  county ;  there 
are  men  of  large  capital  in  all  parts — men  farming  their  own 
land ;  but,  taking  it  as  a  rule,  I  hesitate  not  to  give  my  opinion 
— and  I  am  prepared  to  back  that  opinion  by  witnesses  before 
your  committee — that,  as  a  rule,  farmers  have  not,  upon  an  aver- 
age, more  than  five  pounds  an  acre  capital  for  their  arable  land. 
I  have  given  you  a  tract  of  country  to  which  I  may  add  all 
Wales;  probably  20,000,000  of  acres  of  cultivable  land.  I 
have  no  doubt  whatever  that  there  are  £100,000,000  of  capital 
wanting  upon  that  land.  What  is  the  meaning  of  farming  cap- 
ital ?  There  are  strange  notions  about  the  word  "  capital."  It 
means  more  manure,  a  greater  amount  of  labor,  a  greater  num- 
ber of  cattle,  and  larger  crops.  Picture  a  country  in  which  you 
can  say  there  is  a  deficiency  of  one-half  of  all  those  blessings 
which  ought  to,  and  might,  exist  there,  and  then  judge  what 
the  condition  of  laborers  wanting  employment  and  food  is. 
But  you  will  say,  capital  would  be  invested  if  it  could  be  done 


ON  THE  EFFECTS  OF  PROTECTION       lgi 

with  profit.  I  admit  it ;  that  is  the  question  I  want  you  to  in- 
quire into.  How  is  it  that  in  a  country  where  there  is  a  plethora 
of  capital,  where  every  other  business  and  pursuit  is  over- 
flowing with  money,  where  you  have  men  going  to  France  for 
railways  and  to  Pennsylvania  for  bonds,  embarking  in  schemes 
for  connecting  the  Atlantic  with  the  Pacific  by  canals,  railways 
in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  and  sending  their  money  to  the 
bottom  of  the  Mexican  mines;  while  you  have  a  country  rich 
and  overflowing,  ready  to  take  investments  in  every  corner  of 
the  globe ;  how  is  it,  I  say,  that  this  capital  does  not  find  its 
employment  in  the  most  attractive  of  all  forms — upon  the  soil 
of  this  country  ?  The  cause  is  notorious — it  is  admitted  by  your 
highest  authorities ;  the  reason  is,  there  is  not  security  for 
capital  in  land.  Capital  shrinks  instinctively  from  insecurity 
of  tenure ;  and  you  have  not  in  England  that  security  which 
would  warrant  men  of  capital  investing  their  money  in  the  soil. 

Now,  is  it  not  a  matter  worthy  of  consideration,  how  far 
this  insecurity  of  tenure  is  bound  up  with  that  protective  sys- 
tem of  which  you  are  so  enamored  ?  Suppose  it  can  be  shown 
that  there  is  a  vicious  circle;  that  you  have  made  politics  of 
Corn  Laws,  and  that  you  want  voters  to  maintain  them ;  that 
you  very  erroneously  think  that  the  Corn  Laws  are  your  great 
mine  of  wealth,  and,  therefore,  you  must  have  a  dependent  ten- 
antry, that  you  may  have  their  votes  at  elections  to  maintain 
this  law  in  Parliament.  Well,  if  you  will  have  dependent  voters, 
you  cannot  have  men  of  spirit  and  capital.  Then  your  policy 
reacts  upon  you.  If  you  have  not  men  of  skill  and  capital,  you 
cannot  have  improvements  and  employment  for  your  laborers. 
Then  comes  round  that  vicious  termination  of  the  circle — you 
have  pauperism,  poor-rates,  county-rates,  and  all  the  other  evils 
of  which  you  are  now  speaking  and  complaining. 

But  here  I  have  to  quote  authorities,  and  I  shall  quote  some 
of  the  highest  consideration  with  the  opposite  side  of  the 
House.  I  will  just  state  the  opinion  of  the  honorable  mem- 
ber for  Berkshire  [Mr.  Pusey],  delivered  at  the  meeting  of  the 
Suffolk  Agricultural  Society.    That  honorable  gentleman  said : 

"  He  knew  this  country  well,  and  he  knew  there  was  not  a 
place  from  Plymouth  to  Berwick  in  which  the  landlords  might 
not  make  improvements ;  but  when  the  tenant  was  short  of 
money,  the  landlord  generally  would  be  short  of  money  too. 


i92  COBDEN 

But  he  would  tell  them  how  to  find  funds.  There  were  many 
districts  where  there  was  a  great  superfluity  not  only  of  use- 
less, but  of  mischievous  timber;  and  if  they  would  cut  that 
down  which  excluded  the  sun  and  air,  and  fed  on  the  soil,  and 
sell  it,  they  would  benefit  the  farmer  by  cutting  it  down,  and 
they  would  benefit  the  farmer  and  laborer  too  by  laying  out 
the  proceeds  in  underdraining  the  soil.  There  was  another 
mode  in  which  they  might  find  money.  He  knew  that  on  some 
properties  a  large  sum  was  spent  in  the  preservation  of  game. 
It  was  not  at  all  unusual  for  the  game  to  cost  £500  or  £600  a 
year ;  and  if  this  were  given  up,  the  money  would  employ  a 
hundred  able-bodied  laborers  in  improving  the  property.  This 
was  another  fund  for  the  landlords  of  England  to  benefit  the 
laborers,  and  the  farmers  at  the  same  time." 

Again,  at  the  Colchester  agricultural  meeting  : 

"  Mr.  Fisher  Hobbes  was  aware  that  a  spirit  of  improvement 
was  abroad.  Much  was  said  about  the  tenant-farmers  doing 
more.  He  agreed  they  might  do  more :  the  soil  of  the  country 
was  capable  of  greater  production ;  if  he  said  one-fourth  more 
he  should  be  within  compass.  But  that  could  not  be  done  by 
the  tenant-farmer  alone  ;  they  must  have  confidence  ;  it  must 
be  done  by  leases — by  draining — by  extending  the  length  of 
fields — by  knocking  down  hedge-rows,  and  clearing  away  trees 
which  now  shielded  the  corn." 

But  there  was  still  higher  authority.  At  the  late  meeting 
at  Liverpool,  Lord  Stanley  declared  : 

"  I  say,  and  as  one  connected  with  the  land  I  feel  myself 
bound  to  say  it,  that  a  landlord  has  no  right  to  expect  any  great 
and  permanent  improvement  of  his  land  by  the  tenant,  un- 
less that  tenant  be  secured  the  repayment  of  his  outlay,  not  by 
the  personal  character  or  honor  of  his  landlord,  but  by  a  se- 
curity which  no  casualties  can  interfere  with — the  security 
granted  him  by  the  terms  of  a  lease  for  years." 

Now,  sir,  not  only  does  the  want  of  security  prevent  capital 
flowing  into  the  farming  business,  but  it  actually  deters  from  the 
improvement  of  the  land  those  who  are  already  in  the  occupa- 
tion of  it.  There  are  many  men,  tenants.of  your  land,  who  could 
improve  their  farms  if  they  had  a  sufficient  security,  and  they 
have  either  capital  themselves  or  their  friends  could  supply  it ; 
but  with  the  absence  of  leases,  and  the  want  of  security,  you  are 


ON   THE   EFFECTS   OF    PROTECTION  193 

actually  deterring  them  from  laying  out  their  money  on  your 
land.  They  keep  everything  the  same  from  year  to  year.  You 
know  that  it  is  impossible  to  farm  your  estates  properly  unless 
a  tenant  has  an  investment  for  more  than  one  year.  A  man 
ought  to  be  able  to  begin  a  farm  with  at  least  eight  years  before 
him,  before  he  expects  to  see  a  return  for  the  whole  of  the 
outlay  of  his  money.  You  are,  therefore,  keeping  your  tenants- 
at-will  at  a  yearly  kind  of  cultivation,  and  you  are  preventing 
them  carrying  on  their  business  in  a  proper  way.  Not  only 
do  you  prevent  the  laying  out  of  capital  upon  your  land,  and 
disable  the  farmers  from  cultivating  it,  but  your  policy  tends 
to  make  them  servile  and  dependent ;  so  that  they  are  actually 
disinclined  to  improvement,  afraid  to  let  you  see  that  they  can 
improve,  because  they  are  apprehensive  that  you  will  pounce 
upon  them  for  an  increase  of  rent.  I  see  the  honorable  member 
for  Lincolnshire  opposite,  and  he  rather  smiled  at  the  expression 
when  I  said  that  the  state  of  dependence  of  the  farmers  was  such 
that  they  were  actually  afraid  to  appear  to  be  improving  their 
land.  Now  that  honorable  gentleman,  the  member  for  Lincoln- 
shire [Mr.  Christopher],  upon  the  motion  made  last  year  for 
agricultural  statistics,  by  my  honorable  friend,  the  member  for 
Manchester  [Mr.  Milner  Gibson],  made  the  following  state- 
ment : 

"  It  is  most  desirable  for  the  farmer  to  know  the  actual  quan- 
tity of  corn  grown  in  this  country,  as  such  knowledge  would  in- 
sure steadiness  of  prices,  which  was  infinitely  more  valuable  to 
the  agriculturist  than  fluctuating  prices.  But  to  ascertain  this 
there  was  extreme  difficulty.  They  could  not  leave  it  to  the 
farmer  to  make  a  return  of  the  quantity  which  he  produced,  for 
it  was  not  for  his  interest  to  do  so.  If  in  any  one  or  two  years  he 
produced  four  quarters  per  acre  on  land  which  had  previously 
grown  but  three,  he  might  fear  that  his  landlord  would  say: 
4  Your  land  is  more  productive  than  I  imagined,  and  I  must 
therefore  raise  your  rent.'  The  interest  of  the  farmers,  there- 
fore, would  be  to  underrate,  and  to  furnish  low  returns." 

Now,  I  ask  honorable  gentlemen  here,  the  landed  gentry  of 
England,  what  a  state  of  things  is  that  when,  upon  their  own 
testimony  respecting  the  farming  capitalists  in  this  country,  they 
dare  not  appear  to  have  a  good  horse — they  dare  not  appear  to 
be  growing  more  than  four  quarters  instead  of  three?  [Mr. 
Vol.  11.  — 13 


ig4  COBDEN 

Christopher:  Hear!]  The  honorable  member  cheers,  but  I  am 
quoting  from  his  own  authority.  I  say  this  condition  of  things, 
indicated  by  these  two  quotations,  brings  the  tenant-farmers — if 
they  are  such  as  these  gentlemen  describe  them  to  be — it  brings 
them  down  to  a  very  low  point  of  servility.  In  Egypt  Mehemet 
Ali  takes  the  utmost  grain  of  corn  from  his  people,  who  bury  it 
beneath  their  hearthstones  in  their  cottages,  and  will  suffer  the 
bastinado  rather  than  tell  how  much  corn  they  grow.  Our 
tenants  are  not  afraid  of  the  bastinado,  but  they  are  terrified  at 
the  rise  of  rent.  This  is  the  state  of  things  amongst  the  tenant- 
farmers,  farming  without  leases.  In  England  leases  are  the  ex- 
ception, and  not  the  rule.  But  even  where  you  have  leases  in 
England — where  you  have  leases  or  agreements — I  doubt 
whether  they  are  not  in  many  cases  worse  tenures  than  where 
there  is  no  lease  at  all ;  the  clauses  being  of  such  an  obsolete 
and  preposterous  character  as  to  defy  any  man  to  carry  on  the 
business  of  farming  under  them  profitably. 

Now,  I  do  not  know  why  we  should  not  in  this  country  have 
leases  for  land  upon  similar  terms  to  the  leases  of  manufactories, 
or  any  "  plant  "  or  premises.  I  do  not  think  that  farming  will 
ever  be  carried  on  as  it  ought  to  be  until  you  have  leases  drawn 
up  in  the  same  way  as  a  man  takes  a  manufactory,  and  pays  per- 
haps £1,000  a  year  for  it.  I  know  people  who  pay  £4,000  a 
year  for  manufactories  to  carry  on  their  business,  and  at  fair 
rents.  There  is  an  honorable  gentleman  near  me  who  pays 
more  than  £4,000  a  year  for  the  rent  of  his  manufactory.  What 
covenants  do  you  think  he  has  in  his  lease?  What  would  he 
think  if  it  stated  how  many  revolutions  there  should  be  in  a  min- 
ute of  the  spindles,  or  if  they  prescribed  the  construction  of 
the  straps  or  the  gearing  of  the  machinery?  Why,  he  takes 
his  manufactory  with  a  schedule  of  its  present  state — bricks, 
mortar,  and  machinery — and  when  the  lease  is  over,  he  must 
leave  it  in  the  same  state,  or  else  pay  a  compensation  for  the 
dilapidation.  [The  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer:  Hear! 
hear !]  The  right  honorable  gentleman,  the  Chancellor  of  the 
Exchequer,  cheers  that  statement.  I  want  to  ask  his  opinion 
respecting  a  similar  lease  for  a  farm.  I  am  rather  disposed  to 
think  that  the  Anti-Corn-Law  Leaguers  will  very  likely  form  a 
joint-stock  association,  having  none  but  free-traders  in  the  body, 
that  we  may  purchase  an  estate  and  have  a  model  farm ;  taking 


ON  THE  EFFECTS  OF  PROTECTION       195 

care  that  it  shall  be  in  one  of  the  rural  counties,  one  of  the 
most  purely  agricultural  parts  of  the  country,  where  we  think 
there  is  the  greatest  need  of  improvement — perhaps  in  Buck- 
inghamshire— and  there  shall  be  a  model  farm,  homestead,  and 
cottages ;  and  I  may  tell  the  noble  lord,  the  member  for  New- 
ark, that  we  shall  have  a  model  garden,  and  we  will  not  make 
any  boast  about  it.  But  the  great  object  will  be  to  have  a  model 
lease.  We  will  have  as  the  farmer  a  man  of  intelligence  and 
capital. 

I  am  not  so  unreasonable  as  to  tell  you  that  you  ought  to 
let  your  land  to  men  who  have  not  a  competent  capital,  or  are 
not  sufficiently  intelligent ;  but  I  say,  select  such  a  man  as  that, 
let  him  know  his  business  and  have  a  sufficient  capital,  and  you 
cannot  give  him  too  wide  a  scope.  We  will  find  such  a  man, 
and  will  let  him  our  farm ;  there  shall  be  a  lease  precisely 
such  as  that  upon  which  my  honorable  friend  takes  his  factory. 
There  shall  be  no  clause  inserted  in  it  to  dictate  to  him  how  he 
shall  cultivate  his  farm ;  he  shall  do  what  he  likes  with  the  old 
pasture.  If  he  can  make  more  by  ploughing  it  up  he  shall  do 
so ;  if  he  can  grow  white  crops  every  year — which  I  know  there 
are  people  doing  at  this  moment  in  more  places  than  one  in  this 
country — or  if  he  can  make  any  other  improvement  or  discovery, 
he  shall  be  free  to  do  so.  We  will  let  him  the  land,  with  a 
schedule  of  the  state  of  tillage  and  the  conditien  of  the  home- 
stead, and  all  we  will  bind  him  to  will  be  this :  "  You  shall 
leave  the  land  as  good  as  when  you  entered  upon  it.  If  it  be 
in  an  inferior  state  it  shall  be  valued  again,  and  you  shall  com- 
pensate us;  but  if  it  be  in  an  improved  state  it  shall  be  valued, 
and  we,  the  landlords,  will  compensate  you."  We  will  give  pos- 
session of  everything  upon  the  land,  whether  it  be  wild  or  tame 
animals ;  he  shall  have  the  absolute  control.  Take  as  stringent 
precautions  as  you  please  to  compel  the  punctual  payment  of 
the  rent ;  take  the  right  of  reentry  as  summarily  as  you  like  if 
the  rent  be  not  duly  paid ;  but  let  the  payment  of  rent  duly 
be  the  sole  test  as  to  the  well-doing  of  the  tenant ;  and  so  long 
as  he  can  pay  the  rent,  and  do  it  promptly,  that  is  the  only 
criterion  you  need  have  that  the  farmer  is  doing  well ;  and  if 
he  is  a  man  of  capital,  you  have  the  strongest  possible  security 
that  he  will  not  waste  your  property  while  he  has  possession 
of  it. 


I96  '  COBDEN 

Now,  sir,  I  have  mentioned  a  deficiency  of  capital  as  being 
the  primary  want  among  farmers.  I  have  stated  the  want  of 
security  in  leases  as  the  cause  of  the  want  of  capital ;  but  you 
may  still  say :  "  You  have  not  connected  this  with  the  Corn 
Laws  and  the  protective  system."  I  will  read  the  opinion  of 
an  honorable  gentleman  who  sits  upon  this  side  of  the  House ; 
it  is  in  a  published  letter  of  Mr.  Hayter,  who,  I  know,  is  him- 
self an  ardent  supporter  of  agriculture.     He  says: 

"  The  more  I  see  of  and  practise  agriculture,  the  more  firmly 
am  I  convinced  that  the  whole  unemployed  labor  of  the  country 
could,  under  a  better  system  of  husbandry,  be  advantageously 
put  into  operation ;  and,  moreover,  that  the  Corn  Laws  have 
been  one  of  the  principal  causes  of  the  present  system  of  bad 
farming  and  consequent  pauperism.  Nothing  short  of  their 
entire  removal  will  ever  induce  the  average  farmer  to  rely  upon 
anything  else  than  the  legislature  for  the  payment  of  his  rent ; 
his  belief  being  that  all  rent  is  paid  by  corn,  and  nothing  else 
than  corn,  and  that  the  legislature  can,  by  enacting  Corn  Laws, 
create  a  price  which  will  make  his  rent  easy.  The  day  of 
their  |  the  Corn  Laws']  entire  abolition  ought  to  be  a  day  of 
jubilee  and  rejoicing  to  every  man  interested  in  land." 

Now,  sir,  I  do  not  stop  to  connect  the  cause  and  effect  in 
this  matter,  and  inquire  whether  your  Corn  Laws  or  your  pro- 
tective system  has  caused  the  want  of  leases  and  capital.  I 
do  not  stop  to  make  good  my  proof,  and  for  this  reason,  that 
you  have  adopted  a  system  of  legislation  in  this  House  by  which 
you  profess  to  make  the  farming  trade  prosperous.  I  show  you, 
after  thirty  years'  trial,  what  is  the  depressed  condition  of  the 
agriculturists  ;  I  prove  to  you  what  is  the  impoverished  state  of 
farmers,  and  also  of  laborers,  and  you  will  not  contest  any  one 
of  those  propositions.  I  say  it  is  enough,  having  had  thirty 
days'  trial  of  your  specific  with  no  better  results  than  these, 
for  me  to  ask  you  to  go  into  committee  to  see  if  something  better 
cannot  be  devised.  I  am  going  to  contend  that  free  trade  in 
grain  would  be  more  advantageous  to  farmers — and  with  them 
I  include  laborers — than  restriction  ;  to  oblige  the  honorable 
member  for  Norfolk,  I  will  take  with  them  also  the  landlords ; 
and  I  contend  that  free  trade  in  corn  and  grain  of  every  kind 
would  be  more  beneficial  to  them  than  to  any  other  class  of  the 
community.    I  should  have  contended  the  same  before  the  pass- 


ON   THE   EFFECTS   OF   PROTECTION 


197 


ing  of  the  late  tariff,  but  now  I  am  prepared  to  do  so  with  ten- 
fold more  force.  What  has  the  right  honorable  baronet  [Sir 
R.  Peel]  done?  He  has  passed  a  law  to  admit  fat  cattle  at  a 
nominal  duty.  Some  foreign  fat  cattle  were  selling  in  Smith- 
field  the  other  day  at  about  fifteen  pounds  or  sixteen  pounds 
per  head,  paying  only  about  seven  and  one-half  per  cent,  duty; 
but  he  has  not  admitted  the  raw  material  out  of  which  these  fat 
cattle  are  made.  Mr.  Huskisson  did  not  act  in  this  manner 
when  he  commenced  his  plan  of  free  trade.  He  began  by  ad- 
mitting the  raw  material  of  manufactures  before  he  admitted 
the  manufactured  article  ;  but  in  your  case  you  have  commenced 
at  precisely  the  opposite  end,  and  have  allowed  free  trade  in 
cattle  instead  of  that  upon  which  they  are  fattened.  I  say  give 
free  trade  in  that  grain  which  goes  to  make  the  cattle.  I  con- 
tend that  by  this  protective  system  the  farmers  throughout  the 
country  are  more  injured  than  any  other  class  in  the  community. 
I  would  take,  for  instance,  the  article  of  clover-seed.  The  hon- 
orable member  for  North  Northamptonshire  put  a  question  the 
other  night  to  the  right  honorable  baronet  at  the  head  of  the 
Government.  He  looked  so  exceedingly  alarmed  that  I  won- 
dered what  the  subject  was  which  created  the  apprehension. 
He  asked  the  right  honorable  baronet  whether  he  was  going  to 
admit  clover-seed  into  this  country.  I  believe  clover-seed  is  to 
be  excluded  from  the  schedule  of  free  importation.  Now,  I 
ask  for  whose  benefit  is  this  exception  made  ?  I  ask  the  honor- 
able gentleman,  the  member  for  North  Northamptonshire, 
whether  those  whom  he  represents,  the  farmers  of  that  district 
of  the  county,  are,  in  a  large  majority  of  instances,  sellers  of 
clover-seed  ?  I  will  undertake  to  say  they  are  not.  How  many 
counties  in  England  are  there  which  are  benefited  by  the  pro- 
tection of  clover-seed?  I  will  take  the  whole  of  Scotland.  If 
there  be  any  Scotch  members  present,  I  ask  them  whether  they 
do  not  in  their  country  import  the  clover-seed  from  England? 
They  do  not  grow  it.  I  undertake  to  say  that  there  are  not 
ten  counties  in  the  United  Kingdom  which  are  interested  in  the 
importation  of  clover-seed  out  of  their  own  borders.  Neither 
have  they  any  of  this  article  in  Ireland.  But  yet  we  have 
clover-seed  excluded  from  the  farmers,  although  they  are  not 
interested  as  a  body  in  its  protection  at  all. 

Again,  take  the  article  of  beans.    There  are  lands  in  Essex 


198  COBDEN 

where  they  can  grow  them  alternate  years  with  wheat.  I  find 
that  beans  come  from  that  district  to  Mark  Lane ;  and  I  believe 
also  that  in  some  parts  of  Lincolnshire  and  Cambridgeshire  they 
do  the  same  ;  but  how  is  it  with  the  poor  lands  of  Surrey  or  tile 
poor  down-land  of  Wiltshire?  Take  the  whole  of  the  counties. 
How  many  of  them  are  there  which  are  exporters  of  beans,  or 
send  them  to  market  ?  You  are  taxing  the  whole  of  the  farmers 
who  do  not  sell  their  beans,  for  the  pretended  benefit  of  a  few 
counties  or  districts  of  counties  where  they  do.  Mark  you, 
where  they  can  grow  beans  on  the  stronger  and  better  soils,  it 
is  not  in  one  case  out  of  ten  that  they  grow  them  for  the  market. 
They  may  grow  them  for  their  own  use;  but  where  they  do 
not  cultivate  beans,  send  them  to  market,  and  turn  them  into 
money,  those  farmers  can  have  no  interest  whatever  in  keeping 
up  the  money  price  of  that  which  they  never  sell. 

Take  the  article  of  oats.  How  many  farmers  are  there  who 
ever  have  oats  down  on  the  credit  side  of  their  books,  as  an 
item  upon  which  they  rely  for  the  payment  of  their  rents? 
The  farmers  may,  and  generally  do,  grow  oats  for  feeding  their 
own  horses ;  but  it  is  an  exception  to  the  rule — and  a  rare  ex- 
ception, too — where  the  farmer  depends  upon  the  sale  of  his 
oats  to  meet  his  expenses.  Take  the  article  of  hops.  You  have  a 
protection  upon  them  for  the  benefit  of  the  growers  in  Kent, 
Sussex,  and  Surrey ;  but  yet  the  cultivators  of  hops  are  taxed 
for  the  protection  of  others  in  articles  which  they  do  not  them- 
selves produce.  Take  the  article  of  cheese.  Not  one  farmer  in 
ten  in  the  whole  country  makes  his  own  cheese,  and  yet  they 
and  their  servants  are  large  consumers  of  it.  But  what  are  the 
counties  which  have  the  protection  in  this  article?  Cheshire, 
Gloucestershire,  Wiltshire,  part  of  Derbyshire,  and  Leicester- 
shire. Here  are  some  four  or  five  dairy  counties  having  an  in- 
terest in  the  protection  of  cheese  ;  but  recollect  that  those  coun- 
ties are  peculiarly  hardly  taxed  in  beans  and  oats,  because  in 
those  counties  where  there  are  chiefly  dairy  farms,  they  are  most 
in  want  of  artificial  food  for  their  cattle.  There  are  the  whole 
of  the  hilly  districts ;  and  I  hope  my  friend,  the  member  for 
Nottingham  [Mr.  Gisborne],  is  here,  because  he  has  a  special 
grievance  in  this  matter.  He  lies  in  Derbyshire,  and  very  com- 
mendably  employs  himself  in  rearing  good  cattle  upon  the  hills : 
but  he  is  taxed  for  your  protection  for  his  beans,  peas,  oats, 


ON  THE  EFFECTS  OF  PROTECTION       199 

Indian  corn,  and  everything  which  he  wants  for  feeding  them. 
He  told  me,  only  the  other  day,  that  he  should  like  nothing 
better  than  to  give  up  the  little  remnant  of  protection  on  cattle, 
if  you  would  only  let  him  buy  a  thousand  quarters  of  black  oats 
for  the  consumption  of  his  stock.  Take  the  whole  of  the  hilly 
districts,  and  the  down  country  of  Wiltshire  ;  the  whole  of  that 
expanse  of  downs  in  the  south  of  England ;  take  the  Cheviots, 
where  the  flock-masters  reside ;  the  Grampians  in  Scotland ; 
and  take  the  whole  of  Wales,  they  are  not  benefited  in  the 
slightest  degree  by  the  protection  on  these  articles ;  but,  on  the 
contrary,  you  are  taxing  the  very  things  they  want.  They  re- 
quire provender  as  abundantly  and  cheaply  as  they  can  get  it. 
Allowing  a  free  importation  of  food  for  cattle  is  the  only  way  in 
which  those  counties  can  improve  the  breed  of  their  lean  stocks, 
and  the  only  manner  in  which  they  can  ever  bring  their  land 
up  to  anything  like  a  proper  state  of  fertility. 

I  will  go  further  and  say,  that  farmers  with  thin  soil — I  mean 
the  stock  farmers,  whom  you  will  find  in  Hertfordshire  and  Sur- 
rey, farmers  with  large  capitals,  arable  farmers — I  say  those 
men  are  deeply  interested  in  having  a  free  importation  of  food 
for  their  cattle,  because  they  have  thin,  poor  land.  This  land 
of  its  own  self  does  not  contain  the  means  of  its  increased  fer- 
tility ;  and  the  only  way  is  the  bringing  in  of  an  additional 
quantity  of  food  from  elsewhere,  that  they  can  bring  up  their 
farms  to  a  proper  state  of  cultivation.  I  have  been  favored 
with  an  estimate  made  by  a  very  experienced,  clever  farmer  in 
Wiltshire — probably  honorable  gentlemen  will  bear  me  out, 
when  I  say  a  man  of  great  intelligence  and  skill,  and  entitled  to 
every  consideration  in  this  House.  I  refer  to  Mr.  Nathaniel 
Atherton,  Kingston,  Wilts.  That  gentleman  estimates  that 
upon  four  hundred  acres  of  land  he  could  increase  his  profits  to 
the  amount  of  £280,  paying  the  same  rent  as  at  present,  pro- 
vided there  was  a  free  importation  of  foreign  grain  of  all  kinds. 
He  would  buy  five  hundred  quarters  of  oats  at  fifteen  shillings, 
or  the  same  amount  in  beans  or  peas  at  fourteen  shillings  or 
fifteen  shillings  a  sack,  to  be  fed  on  the  land  or  in  the  yard ;  by 
which  he  would  grow  additional  one  hundred  and  sixty  quar- 
ters of  wheat,  and  two  hundred  and  thirty  quarters  of  barley, 
and  gain  an  increased  profit  of  £300  upon  his  sheep  and  cattle. 
His  plan  embraces  the  employment  of  an  additional  capital  of 


2oo  COBDEN 

£1,000 ;  and  he  would  pay  £150  a  year  more  for  labor.  I  had  an 
opportunity,  the  other  day,  of  speaking  to  a  very  intelligent 
farmer  in  Hertfordshire.  Mr.  Lattimore,  of  Wheathampstead. 
Very  likely  there  are  honorable  members  here  to  whom  he  is 
known.  I  do  not  know  whether  the  noble  lord,  the  member  for 
Hertfordshire  is  present ;  if  so,  he  will,  no  doubt,  know  that  Mr. 
Lattimore  stands  as  high  in  Hertford  market  as  a  skilful  farmer 
and  a  man  of  abundant  capital  as  any  in  the  county.  He  is  a 
gentleman  of  most  unquestionable  intelligence ;  and  what  does 
he  say  ?  He  told  me  that  last  year  he  paid  £230  enhanced  price 
on  his  beans  and  other  provender  which  he  bought  for  his  cat- 
tle— £230  enhanced  price  in  consequence  of  that  restriction  upon 
the  trade  in  foreign  grain,  amounting  to  fourteen  shillings  a 
quarter  on  all  the  wheat  he  sold  off  his  farm. 

Now,  I  undertake  to  say,  in  the  name  of  Mr.  Atherton,  of 
Wiltshire,  and  Mr.  Lattimore,  of  Hertfordshire,  that  they  are 
as  decided  advocates  for  free  trade  in  grain  of  every  kind  as  I 
am.  I  am  not  now  quoting  merely  solitary  cases.  I  told  hon- 
orable gentlemen  once  before  that  I  have  probably  as  large 
an  acquaintance  among  farmers  as  anyone  in  the  House.  I 
think  I  could  give  you  from  every  county  the  names  of  some 
of  the  first-rate  farmers  who  are  as  ardent  free-traders  as  I  am. 
I  requested  the  secretary  of  this  much  dreaded  Anti-Corn-Law 
League  to  make  me  out  a  list  of  the  farmers  who  are  sub- 
scribers to  that  association,  and  I  find  there  are  upwards  of  one 
hundred  in  England  and  Scotland  who  subscribe  to  the  league 
fund,  comprising,  I  hesitate  not  to  say,  the  most  intelligent 
men  to  be  found  in  the  kingdom.  I  went  into  the  Lothians,  at 
the  invitation  of  twenty-two  farmers  there,  several  of  whom 
were  paying  upwards  of  £1,000  a  year  rent.  I  spent  two  or 
three  days  among  them,  and  I  never  found  a  body  of  more  intel- 
ligent, liberal-minded  men  in  my  life.  Those  are  men  who  do 
not  want  restrictions  upon  the  importation  of  grain.  They  de- 
sire nothing  but  fair  play.  They  say :  "  Let  us  have  our  Indian 
corn,  Egyptian  beans,  and  Polish  oats  as  freely  as  we  have  our 
linseed  cake,  and  we  can  bear  competition  with  any  corn- 
growers  in  the  world."  But  by  excluding  the  provender  for 
cattle,  and  at  the  same  time  admitting  the  cattle  almost  duty 
free,  I  think  you  are  giving  an  example  of  one  of  the  greatest 
absurdities  and  perversions  of  nature  and  common-sense  that 
ever  was  seen. 


ON  THE  EFFECTS  OF  PROTECTION       201 

We  have  heard  of  great  absurdities  in  legislation  in  com- 
mercial matters  of  late.  We  know  that  there  has  been  such  a 
case  as  sending  coffee  from  Cuba  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  in 
order  to  bring  it  back  to  England  under  the  law ;  but  I  ven- 
ture to  say,  that  in  less  than  ten  years  from  this  time,  people 
will  look  back  with  more  amazement  in  their  minds,  at  the 
fact  that,  while  you  are  sending  ships  to  Ichaboe  to  bring  back 
the  guano,  you  are  passing  a  law  to  exclude  Indian  corn,  beans, 
oats,  peas,  and  everything  else  that  gives  nourishment  to  your 
cattle,  which  would  give  you  a  thousand  times  more  productive 
manure  than  all  the  guano  of  Ichaboe. 

Upon  the  last  occasion  when  I  spoke  upon  this  subject  I  was 
answered  by  the  right  honorable  gentleman,  the  President  of 
the  Board  of  Trade.  He  talked  about  throwing  poor  lands  out 
of  cultivation,  and  converting  arable  lands  into  pasture.  I  hope 
that  we  men  of  the  Anti-Corn-Law  League  may  not  be  re- 
proached again  with  seeking  to  cause  any  such  disasters.  My 
belief  is — and  the  conviction  is  founded  upon  a  most  extensive 
inquiry  among  the  most  intelligent  farmers,  without  stint  of 
trouble  and  pains — that  the  course  you  are  pursuing  tends  every 
hour  to  throw  land  out  of  cultivation,  and  make  poor  lands 
unproductive.  Do  not  let  us  be  told  again  that  we  desire  to 
draw  the  laborers  from  the  land  in  order  that  we  may  reduce 
the  wages  of  the  work-people  employed  in  factories.  I  tell  you 
that  if  you  bestow  capital  on  the  soil  and  cultivate  it  with  the 
same  skill  as  manufacturers  bestow  upon  their  business,  you 
have  not  population  enough  in  the  rural  districts  for  the  pur- 
pose. I  yesterday  received  a  letter  from  Lord  Ducie,  in  which 
he  gives  precisely  the  same  opinion.  He  says :  "  If  we  had 
the  land  properly  cultivated  there  are  not  sufficient  laborers  to 
till  it."  You  are  chasing  your  laborers  from  village  to  village, 
passing  laws  to  compel  people  to  support  paupers,  devising 
every  means  to  smuggle  them  abroad — to  the  antipodes — if  you 
can  get  them  there ;  why,  you  would  have  to  run  after  them 
and  bring  them  back  again  if  you  had  your  land  properly  culti- 
vated. I  tell  you  honestly  my  conviction,  that  it  is  by  these 
means,  and  these  only,  that  you  can  avert  very  great  and  se- 
rious troubles  and  disasters  in  your  agricultural  districts. 

Sir,  I  remember,  on  the  last  occasion  when  this  subject  was 
discussed,  there  was  a  great  deal  said  about  disturbing  an  inter- 


202  COBDEN 

est.  It  was  said  this  inquiry  could  not  be  gone  into  because 
we  were  disturbing  and  unsettling  a  great  interest.  I  have  no 
desire  to  undervalue  the  agricultural  interest.  I  have  heard 
it  said  that  they  are  the  greatest  consumers  of  manufactured 
goods  in  this  country ;  that  they  are  such  large  consumers  of 
our  goods  that  we  had  better  look  after  the  home  trade,  aand 
not  think  of  destroying  it.  But  what  sort  of  consumers  of  man- 
ufactures think  you  the  laborers  can  be,  with  the  wages  they 
are  now  getting  in  agricultural  districts  ?  Understand  me  ;  I 
am  arguing  for  a  principle  that  I  solemnly  believe  would  raise 
the  wages  of  the  laborers  in  the  agricultural  districts.  I  be- 
lieve you  would  have  no  men  starving  upon  seven  shillings  a 
week  if  you  had  abundant  capital  and  competent  skill  employed 
upon  the  soil ;  but  I  ask  what  is  this  consumption  of  manufact- 
ured goods  that  we  have  heard  so  much  about  ?  I  have  taken 
some  pains,  and  made  large  inquiries  as  to  the  amount  laid  out 
in  the  average  of  cases  by  agricultural  laborers  and  their  fami- 
lies. You  have  960,000  agricultural  laborers  in  England  and 
Wales,  according  to  the  last  census  ;  I  undertake  to  say  they  do 
not  expend  on  an  average  thirty  shillings  a  year  on  their  fami- 
lies, supposing  every  one  of  them  to  be  in  employ.  I  speak 
of  manufactured  goods,  excluding  shoes.  I  assert  that  the 
whole  of  the  agricultural  peasantry  and  their  families  in  Eng- 
land and  Wales  do  not  spend  a  million  and  a  half  per  annum 
for  manufactured  goods,  in  clothing  and  bedding.  And,  with 
regard  to  your  excisable  and  duty-paying  articles,  what  can  the 
poor  wretch  lay  out  upon  them,  who  out  of  eight  shillings  or 
nine  shillings  a  week  has  a  wife  and  family  to  support?  I  un- 
dertake to  prove  to  your  satisfaction — and  you  may  do  it 
yourselves  if  you  will  but  dare  to  look  the  figures  in  the  face — 
I  will  undertake  to  prove  to  you  that  they  do  not  pay,  upon  an 
average,  each  family  fifteen  shillings  per  annum  ;  that  the  whole 
of  their  contributions  to  the  revenue  do  not  amount  to  £700,000. 
Now,  is  not  this  a  mighty  interest  to  be  disturbed?  I  would 
keep  that  interest  as  justly  as  though  it  were  one  of  the  most 
important ;  but  I  say,  when  you  have  by  your  present  system 
brought  down  your  agricultural  peasantry  to  that  state,  have 
you  anything  to  offer  for  bettering  their  condition,  or  at  all 
events  to  justify  resisting  an  inquiry? 

On  the  last  occasion  when  I  addressed  the  House  on  this 


ON   THE   EFFECTS   OF   PROTECTION  203 

subject  I  recollect  stating  some  facts  to  show  that  you  had  no 
reasonable  ground  to  fear  foreign  competition  ;  those  facts  I  do 
not  intend  to  reiterate,  because  they  have  never  been  contra- 
dicted. But  there  are  still  attempts  made  to  frighten  people  by 
telling  them :  "  If  you  open  the  ports  to  foreign  corn  you  will 
have  corn  let  in  here  for  nothing."  One  of  the  favorite  fallacies 
which  are  now  put  forth  is  this :  "  Look  at  the  price  of  corn  in 
England  and  see  what  it  is  abroad ;  you  have  prices  low  here, 
and  yet  you  have  corn  coming  in  from  abroad  and  paying  the 
maximum  duty.  Now,  if  you  had  not  twenty  shillings  duty 
to  pay  what  a  quantity  of  corn  you  would  have  brought  in,  and 
how  low  the  price  would  be !  "  This  statement  arises  from  a 
fallacy — I  hope  not  dishonestly  put  forth — in  not  understanding 
the  difference  between  the  real  and  the  nominal  price  of  corn. 
The  price  of  corn  at  Dantzic  now,  when  there  is  no  regular 
sale,  is  nominal ;  the  price  of  corn  when  it  is  coming  in  regu- 
larly is  the  real  price.  Now,  go  back  to  1838.  In  January  of 
that  year  the  price  of  wheat  at  Dantzic  was  nominal ;  there  was 
no  demand  for  England ;  there  were  no  purchasers  except  for 
speculation,  with  the  chance,  probably,  of  having  to  throw  the 
wheat  into  the  sea ;  but  in  the  months  of  July  and  August  of  that 
year,  when  apprehensions  arose  of  a  failure  of  our  harvest,  then 
the  price  of  corn  in  Dantzic  rose  instantly,  sympathizing  with 
the  markets  of  England ;  and  at  the  end  of  the  year,  in  Decem- 
ber, the  price  of  wheat  at  Dantzic  had  doubled  the  amount  at 
which  it  had  been  in  January  ;  and  during  the  three  following 
years,  when  you  had  a  regular  importation  of  corn — during  all 
that  time,  by  the  averages  laid  upon  the  table  of  this  House, 
wheat  at  Dantzic  averaged  forty  shillings.  Wheat  at  Dantzic 
was  at  that  price  during  the  three  years  1839,  1840,  and  1841. 
Now,  I  mention  this  just  to  show  the  fact  to  honorable  gentle- 
men, and  to  entreat  them  that  they  will  not  go  and  alarm  their 
tenantry  by  this  outcry  of  the  danger  of  foreign  competition. 
You  ought  to  be  pursuing  a  directly  opposite  course — you 
ought  to  be  trying  to  stimulate  them  in  every  possible  way,  by 
showing  that  they  can  compete  with  foreigners ;  that  what 
others  can  do  in  Poland,  they  can  do  in  England. 

I  have  an  illustration  of  this  subject  in  the  case  of  a  society 
of  which  the  honorable  member  for  Suffolk  is  chairman.  We 
have  lately  seen  a  new  light  spreading  amongst  agricultural 


204  COBDEN 

gentlemen.  We  are  told  the  salvation  of  this  country  is  to  arise 
from  the  cultivation  of  flax.  There  is  a  National  Flax  Society, 
of  which  Lord  Rendlesham  is  the  president.  This  Flax  So- 
ciety state  in  their  prospectus,  a  copy  of  which  I  have  here, 
purporting  to  be  the  first  annual  report  of  the  National  Flax 
Agricultural  Improvement  Association — after  talking  of  the 
ministers  holding  out  no  hope  from  legislation  the  report  goes 
on  to  state  that  upon  these  grounds  the  National  Flax  Society 
call  upon  the  nation  for  its  support,  on  the  ground  that  they 
are  going  to  remedy  the  distress  of  the  country.  The  founder 
of  this  society  is  Mr.  Warnes,  of  Norfolk.  I  observe  Mr. 
Warnes  paid  a  visit  to  Sussex,  and  he  attended  an  agricultural 
meeting  at  which  the  honorable  baronet,  the  member  for  Shore- 
ham  [Sir  Charles  Burrell],  presided.  After  the  usual  loyal 
toasts  the  honorable  baronet  proposed  the  toast  of  the  evening: 
"  Mr.  Warnes  and  the  cultivation  of  flax."  The  honorable  bar- 
onet was  not  aware,  I  dare  say,  that  he  was  then  furnishing  a 
most  deadly  weapon  to  the  lecturers  of  the  Anti-Corn-Law 
League.  We  are  told  you  cannot  compete  with  foreigners  un- 
less you  have  a  high  protective  duty.  You  have  a  high  pro- 
tective duty  on  wheat,  amounting  at  this  moment  to  twenty 
shillings  a  quarter.  A  quarter  of  wheat  at  the  present  time  is 
just  worth  the  same  as  one  hundredweight  of  flax.  On  a  quar- 
ter of  wheat  you  have  a  protective  duty  against  the  Pole  and 
Russian  of  twenty  shillings  ;  upon  the  one  hundredweight  of  flax 
you  have  a  protective  duty  of  one  penny.  And  I  did  not  hear 
a  murmur  from  honorable  gentlemen  opposite  when  the  Prime 
Minister  proposed  to  take  off  that  protective  duty  of  one  penny, 
totally  and  immediately. 

But  we  are  told  that  English  agriculturists  cannot  compete 
with  foreigners,  and  especially  with  that  serf  labor  that  is  to  be 
found  somewhere  up  the  Baltic.  Well,  but  flax  comes  from  the 
Baltic,  and  there  is  no  protective  duty.  Honorable  gentlemen 
say  we  have  no  objection  to  raw  materials  where  there  is  no  la- 
bor connected  with  them  ;  but  we  cannot  contend  against  for- 
eigners in  wheat  because  there  is  such  an  amount  of  labor  in  it. 
Why,  there  is  twice  as  much  labor  in  flax  as  there  is  in  wheat ; 
but  the  member  for  Shoreham  favors  the  growth  of  flax  in  order 
to  restore  the  country,  which  is  sinking  into  this  abject  and 
hopeless  state  for  want  of  agricultural  protection.     But  the 


ON  THE  EFFECTS  OF  PROTECTION       205 

honorable  baronet  will  forgive  me — I  am  sure  he  will,  he  looks 
as  if  he  would — if  I  allude  a  little  to  the  subject  of  leases.  The 
honorable  gentleman  on  that  occasion,  I  believe,  complained 
that  it  was  a  great  pity  that  farmers  did  not  grow  more  flax.  I 
do  not  know  whether  it  was  true  or  not  that  the  same  honorable 
baronet's  leases  to  his  own  tenants  forbade  them  to  grow  that 
article. 

Now,  it  is  quite  as  possible  that  the  right  honorable  baronet 
does  not  exactly  know  what  covenants  or  clauses  there  are  in 
his  leases.  But  I  know  that  it  is  a  very  common  case  to  pre- 
clude the  growth  of  flax ;  and  it  just  shows  the  kind  of  manage- 
ment by  which  the  landed  proprietors  have  carried  on  their  af- 
fairs, that  actually,  I  believe,  the  original  source  of  the  error 
that  flax  was  very  pernicious  to  the  ground  was  derived  from 
Vergil ;  I  believe  there  is  a  passage  in  the  Georgics  to  that  ef- 
fect. From  that  classic  authority,  no  doubt,  some  learned  law- 
yer put  this  clause  into  the  lease  ;  and  there  it  has  remained  ever 
since. 

Now,  I  have  alluded  to  the  condition  of  the  laborers  at  the 
present  time ;  but  I  am  bound  to  say  that  while  the  farmers 
at  the  present  moment  are  in  a  worse  condition  than  they  have 
been  for  the  last  ten  years,  I  believe  the  agricultural  laborers 
have  passed  over  the  winter  with  less  suffering  and  distress,  al- 
though it  has  been  a  five-months'  winter,  and  a  severer  one,  too, 
than  they  endured  in  the  previous  year.  [Hear!]  I  am  glad 
to  find  that  corroborated  by  honorable  gentlemen  opposite,  be- 
cause it  bears  out,  in  a  remarkable  degree,  the  opinion  that  we, 
who  are  in  connection  with  the  free-trade  question,  entertain. 
We  maintain  that  a  low  price  of  food  is  beneficial  to  the  laboring 
classes.  We  assert,  and  we  can  prove  it,  at  least  in  the  manu- 
facturing districts,  that  whenever  provisions  are  dear  wages  are 
low,  and  whenever  food  is  cheap  wages  invariably  rise.  We 
have  had  a  strike  in  almost  every  business  in  Lancashire  since 
the  price  of  wheat  has  been  down  to  something  like  fifty  shil- 
lings ;  and  I  am  glad  to  be  corroborated  when  I  state  that  the 
agricultural  laborers  have  been  in  a  better  condition  during  the 
last  winter  than  they  were  in  the  previous  one.  But  does  not 
that  show  that,  even  in  your  case,  though  your  laborers  have  in 
a  general  way  only  just  as  much  as  will  find  them  a  subsistence, 
they  are  benefited  by  a  great  abundance  of  the  first  necessaries 


206  COBDEN 

of  life  ?  Although  their  wages  may  rise  and  fall  with  the  price 
of  food — although  they  may  go  up  with  the  advance  in  the 
price  of  corn,  and  fall  when  it  is  lowered — still,  I  maintain  that 
it  does  not  rise  in  the  same  proportion  as  the  price  of  food  rises, 
nor  fall  to  the  extent  to  which  food  falls.  Therefore  in  all  cases 
the  agricultural  laborers  are  in  a  better  state  when  food  is  low 
than  when  it  is  high.  I  have  a  very  curious  proof  that  high- 
priced  food  leads  to  pauperism  in  the  agricultural  districts, 
which  I  will  read  to  you.  It  is  a  laborer's  certificate  seen  at 
Stowupland,  in  Suffolk,  in  July,  1844,  which  was  placed  upon 
the  mantelpiece  of  a  peasant's  cottage  there : 

'  West  Suffolk  Agricultural  Association,  established  in  1833 
for  the  advancement  of  agriculture  and  the  encouragement  of 
industry  and  skill  and  good  conduct  among  laborers  and  ser- 
vants in  husbandry,  President — the  Duke  of  Grafton,  Lord- 
Lieutenant  of  the  county :  This  is  to  certify  that  a  prize  of  ten 
pounds  was  awarded  to  William  Burch,  aged  eighty-two,  la- 
borer of  the  parish  of  Stowupland,  in  West  Suffolk,  September 
25,  1840,  for  having  brought  up  nine  children  without  relief, 
except  when  flour  was  very  dear;  and  for  having  worked  on 
the  same  farm  twenty-eight  years.  (Signed)  Rt.  Rushbrooke, 
Chairman." 

Now  I  need  not  press  that  point.  It  is  admitted  by  honorable 
gentlemen  opposite — and  I  am  glad  it  is  so — that  after  a  very 
severe  winter,  in  the  midst  of  great  distress  among  farmers, 
when  there  have  been  a  great  many  able-bodied  men  wanting 
employment,  still  there  have  been  fewer  in  the  streets  and  work- 
houses than  there  had  been  in  the  previous  year ;  and  I  hope 
we  shall  not  again  be  told  by  honorable  gentlemen  opposite  that 
cheap  bread  is  injurious  to  the  laborers. 

But  the  condition  of  the  agricultural  laborer  is  a  bad  case 
at  the  very  best.  You  can  look  before  you,  and  you  have  to 
foresee  the  means  of  giving  employment  to  those  men.  I  need 
not  tell  you  that  the  late  census  shows  that  you  cannot  employ 
your  own  increasing  population  in  the  agricultural  districts. 
But  you  say  the  farmer  should  employ  them.  Now,  I  am 
bound  to  say  that,  whatever  may  be  the  condition  of  the  agri- 
cultural laborer,  I  hold  that  the  farmer  is  not  responsible  for 
that  condition  while  he  is  placed  in  the  situation  in  which  he  is 
now  by  the  present  system.    I  have  seen  during  the  last  autumn 


ON  THE  EFFECTS  OF  PROTECTION       207 

and  winter  a  great  many  exhortations  made  to  the  farmers  that 
they  should  employ  more  laborers.  I  think  that  is  very  unfair 
towards  the  farmer;  I  believe  he  is  the  man  who  is  suffering 
most ;  he  stands  between  you  and  your  impoverished,  suffering- 
peasantry  ;  and  it  is  rather  too  bad  to  point  to  the  farmer 
as  the  man  who  should  relieve  them.  I  have  an  extract  from 
Lord  Hardwick's  address  to  the  laborers  of  Haddenham.  He 
says: 

"  Conciliate  your  employers,  and  if  they  do  not  perform  their 
duty  to  you  and  themselves,  address  yourselves  to  the  land- 
lords, and  I  assure  you  that  you  will  find  us  ready  to  urge  our 
own  tenants  to  the  proper  cultivation  of  their  farms,  and,  conse- 
quently, to  the  just  employment  of  the  laborer." 

Now,  I  hold  that  this  duty  begins  nearer  home,  and  that  the 
landed  proprietors  are  the  parties  who  are  responsible  if  the  la- 
borers have  not  employment.  You  have  absolute  power ;  there 
is  no  doubt  about  that.  You  can,  if  you  please,  legislate  for  the 
laborers,  or  yourselves.  Whatever  you  may  have  done  besides, 
your  legislation  has  been  averse  to  the  laborer,  and  you  have 
no  right  to  call  upon  the  farmers  to  remedy  the  evils  which  you 
have  caused.  Will  not  this  evil — if  evil  you  call  it — press  on 
you  more  and  more  every  year?  What  can  you  do  to  remedy 
the  mischief?  I  only  appear  here  now  because  you  have  pro- 
posed nothing.  We  all  know  your  system  of  allotments,  and 
we  are  all  aware  of  its  failure.  What  other  remedy  have  you? 
for,  mark  you,  that  is  worse  than  a  plaything,  if  you  were  al- 
lowed to  carry  out  your  own  views.  [Hear!]  Aye,  it  is  well 
enough  for  some  of  you  that  there  are  wiser  heads  than  your 
own  to  lead  you,  or  you  would  be  conducting  yourselves  into 
precisely  the  same  condition  in  which  they  are  in  Ireland,  but 
with  this  difference — this  increased  difficulty — that  there  they 
do  manage  to  maintain  the  rights  of  property  by  the  aid  of  the 
English  Exchequer  and  20,000  bayonets ;  but  divide  your  own 
country  into  small  allotments,  and  where  would  be  the  rights 
of  property?  What  do  you  propose  to  do  now?  That  is  the 
question.  Nothing  has  been  brought  forward  this  year  which 
I  have  heard,  having  for  its  object  to  benefit  the  great  mass  of 
the  English  population  ;  nothing  I  have  heard  suggested  which 
has  at  all  tended  to  alleviate  their  condition. 

You  admit  that  the  farmer's  capital  is  sinking  from  under 


208  COBDEN 

him,  and  that  he  is  in  a  worse  state  than  ever.  Have  you  dis- 
tinctly provided  some  plan  to  give  confidence  to  the  farmer,  to 
cause  an  influx  of  capital  to  be  expended  upon  his  land,  and  so 
bring  increased  employment  to  the  laborer?  How  is  this  to 
be  met  ?  I  cannot  believe  you  are  going  to  make  this  a  political 
game.  You  must  set  up  some  specific  object  to  benefit  the 
agricultural  interest.  It  is  well  said  that  the  last  election  was 
an  agricultural  triumph.  There  are  two  hundred  county  mem- 
bers sitting  behind  the  Prime  Minister  who  prove  that  it  was  so. 
What,  then,  is  your  plan  for  this  distressing  state  of  things? 
That  is  what  I  want  to  ask  you.  Do  not,  as  you  have  done 
before,  quarrel  with  me  because  I  have  imperfectly  stated  my 
case  ;  I  have  done  my  best ;  and  I  again  ask  you  what  you  have 
to  propose?  I  tell  you  that  this  "protection,"  as  it  has  been 
called,  is  a  failure.  It  was  so  when  you  had  the  prohibition 
up  to  eighty  shillings.  You  know  the  state  of  your  farming 
tenantry  in  182 1.  It  was  a  failure  when  you  had  a  protection 
price  of  sixty  shillings ;  for  you  know  what  was  the  condition 
of  your  farm  tenantry  in  1835.  It  is  a  failure  now  with  your 
last  amendment,  for  you  have  admitted  and  proclaimed  it  to 
us  ;  and  what  is  the  condition  of  your  agricultural  population  at 
this  time?  I  ask,  what  is  your  plan?  I  hope  it  is  not  a 
pretence ;  a  mere  political  game  that  has  been  played  through- 
out the  last  election,  and  that  you  have  not  all  come  up  here  as 
mere  politicians.  There  are  politicians  in  the  House  ;  men  who 
look  with  an  ambition — probably  a  justifiable  one — to  the  hon- 
ors of  office.  There  may  be  men  who — with  thirty  years  of  con- 
tinuous service,  having  been  pressed  into  a  groove  from  which 
they  can  neither  escape  nor  retreat — may  be  holding  office,  high 
office,  maintained  there,  probably  at  the  expense  of  their  present 
convictions  which  do  not  harmonize  very  well  with  their  early 
opinions.  I  make  allowances  for  them ;  but  the  great  body  of 
the  honorable  gentlemen  opposite  came  up  to  this  House,  not 
as  politicians,  but  as  the  farmers'  friends,  and  protectors  of  the 
agricultural  interests.  Well,  what  do  you  propose  to  do  ?  You 
have  heard  the  Prime  Minister  declare  that,  if  he  could  restore 
all  the  protection  which  you  have  had,  that  protection 
would  not  benefit  agriculturists.  Is  that  your  belief?  If  so, 
why  not  proclaim  it?  and  if  it  is  not  your  conviction  you  will 
have  falsified  your  mission  in  this  House,  by  following  the  right 


ON  THE  EFFECTS  OF  PROTECTION       209 

honorable  baronet  out  into  the  lobby,  and  opposing  inquiry  into 
the  condition  of  the  very  men  who  sent  you  here. 

With  mere  politicians  I  have  no  right  to  expect  to  succeed 
in  this  motion.  But  I  have  no  hesitation  in  telling  you  that, 
if  you  give  me  a  committee  of  this  House  I  will  explode  the 
delusion  of  agricultural  protection !  I  will  bring  forward  such 
a  mass  of  evidence,  and  give  you  such  a  preponderance  of  talent 
and  of  authority  that  when  the  Blue-Book  is  published  and  sent 
forth  to  the  world,  as  we  can  now  send  it,  by  our  vehicles  of  in- 
formation, your  system  of  protection  shall  not  live  in  public 
opinion  for  two  years  afterwards.  Politicians  do  not  want  that. 
This  cry  of  protection  has  been  a  very  convenient  handle  for 
politicians.  The  cry  of  protection  carried  the  counties  at  the 
last  election,  and  politicians  gained  honors,  emoluments,  and 
place  by  it.  But  is  that  old  tattered  flag  of  protection,  tar- 
nished and  torn  as  it  is  already,  to  be  kept  hoisted  still  in  the 
counties  for  the  benefit  of  politicians ;  or  will  you  come  forward 
honestly  and  fairly  to  inquire  into  this  question  ?  I  cannot 
believe  that  the  gentry  of  England  will  be  made  mere  drum- 
heads to  be  sounded  upon  by  a  Prime  Minister  to  give  forth 
unmeaning  and  empty  sounds,  and  to  have  no  articulate  voice 
of  their  own.  No !  You  are  the  gentry  of  England  who  repre- 
sent the  counties.  You  are  the  aristocracy  of  England.  Your 
fathers  led  our  fathers  ;  you  may  lead  us  if  you  will  go  the  right 
way.  But,  although  you  have  retained  your  influence  with  this 
country  longer  than  any  other  aristocracy,  it  has  not  been  by 
opposing  popular  opinion,  or  by  setting  yourselves  against  the 
spirit  of  the  age. 

In  other  days,  when  the  battle  and  the  hunting-fields  were 
the  tests  of  manly  vigor,  your  fathers  were  first  and  foremost 
there.  The  aristocracy  of  England  were  not  like  the  noblesse 
of  France,  the  mere  minions  of  a  court ;  nor  were  they  like  the 
hidalgos  of  Madrid,  who  dwindled  into  pygmies.  You  have 
been  Englishmen.  You  have  not  shown  a  want  of  courage  and 
firmness  when  any  call  has  been  made  upon  you.  This  is  a  new 
era.  It  is  the  age  of  improvement,  it  is  the  age  of  social  ad- 
vancement, not  the  age  for  war  or  for  feudal  sports.  You  live 
in  a  mercantile  age,  when  the  whole  wealth  of  the  world  is 
poured  into  your  lap.  You  cannot  have  the  advantages  of 
commercial  rents  and  feudal  privileges ;  but  you  may  be  what 
Vol.  II.— 14 


2i j  COBDEN 

you  always  have  been  if  you  will  identify  yourselves  with  the 
spirit  of  the  age.  The  English  people  look  to  the  gentry  and 
aristocracy  of  their  country  as  their  leaders.  I,  who  am  not 
one  of  you,  have  no  hesitation  in  telling  you  that  there  is  a  deep- 
rooted,  an  hereditary  prejudice,  if  I  may  so  call  it,  in  your  favor 
in  this  country.  But  you  never  got  it,  and  you  will  not  keep  it, 
by  obstructing  the  spirit  of  the  age.  If  you  are  indifferent  to 
enlightened  means  of  finding  employment  to  your  own  peas- 
antry ;  if  you  are  found  obstructing  that  advance  which  is  cal- 
culated to  knit  nations  more  together  in  the  bonds  of  peace  by 
means  of  commercial  intercourse ;  if  you  are  found  fighting 
against  the  discoveries  which  have  almost  given  breath  and  life 
to  material  nature,  and  setting  up  yourselves  as  obstructives  of 
that  which  destiny  has  decreed  shall  go  on — why,  then,  you  will 
be  the  gentry  of  England  no  longer,  and  others  will  be  found  to 
take  your  place. 

And  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  you  stand  just  now  in 
a  very  critical  position.  There  is  a  widespread  suspicion  that 
you  have  been  tampering  with  the  best  feelings  and  with  the 
honest  confidence  of  your  constituents  in  this  cause.  Every- 
where you  are  doubted  and  suspected.  Read  your  own  or- 
gans, and  you  will  see  that  this  is  the  case.  Well,  then,  this 
is  the  time  to  show  that  you  are  not  the  mere  party  politicians 
which  you  are  said  to  be.  I  have  said  that  we  shall  be  opposed 
in  this  measure  by  politicians ;  they  do  not  want  inquiry.  But 
I  ask  you  to  go  into  this  committee  with  me.  I  will  give  you  a 
majority  of  county  members.  You  shall  have  a  majority  of 
the  Central  Society  in  that  committee.  I  ask  you  only  to  go 
into  a  fair  inquiry  as  to  the  causes  of  the  distress  of  your  own 
population.  I  only  ask  that  this  matter  may  be  fairly  exam- 
ined. Whether  you  establish  my  principle  or  yours,  good  will 
come  out  of  the  inquiry ;  and  I  do,  therefore,  beg  and  entreat 
the  honorable  independent  country  gentlemen  of  this  House 
that  they  will  not  refuse,  on  this  occasion,  to  go  into  a  fair,  a 
full,  and  an  impartial  inquiry. 


ON    THE    POLITICAL    SITUATION 


BY 


BENJAMIN     DISRAELI 

(Lord  Beaconsficld) 


BENJAMIN   DISRAELI,   LORD   BEACONSFIELD 

1804— 1 88 1 

For  sheer  original  genius,  which  lifts  a  man  from  the  ranks,  and  in 
the  teeth  of  disheartening  odds  lands  him  at  last  in  the  highest  place  in  a 
great  kingdom,  Benjamin  Disraeli  may  perhaps  be  conceded  to  hold  the 
first  place  in  modern  English  political  history.  The  problem,  how  to 
rise,  is  in  England  a  far  more  difficult  one  than  it  is  in  America ;  and 
at  the  period  of  Disraeli's  entrance  into  public  life,  it  was  vastly  more 
difficult  than  it  is  to-day.  But  for  him,  in  addition  to  the  ordinary 
obstructions,  there  was  the  apparently  insurmountable  one  of  his  Jewish 
parentage.  There  is  nowhere  any  prouder,  more  self-satisfied  body  of 
people  than  the  English  aristocracy ;  none  more  exclusive,  more  diffi- 
cult to  subdue ;  and  to  none  would  they  be  less  apt  to  bow  than  to  a 
friendless  and  moneyless  Jew.  But  Disraeli  conquered  the  English 
aristocracy,  and  did  it  without  allowing  them  to  know  or  understand 
him.  The  situation  is  new  in  history ;  and  of  course  can  be  explained 
only  by  the  secret  force  of  genius,  working  through  all  disguises,  as  a 
mighty  magnet  works  beneath  the  wrappings  which  swathe  it  from  sight. 
Not  only  did  he  become  master  of  the  House ;  not  only  did  he  hold  the 
reins  of  government  again  and  again ;  but  according  to  his  prophecy,  he 
in  due  course  took  his  seat  in  the  House  of  Lords  as  a  peer  of  England. 

Disraeli  was  born  five  years  before  his  great  rival,  Gladstone,  on  De- 
cember 21,  1804;  and  he  died  eighteen  years  before  him,  April  19,  1881. 
After  a  career  in  society,  where  he  figured  with  success  as  a  wit,  and  a 
season  of  travel  on  the  Continent,  he  returned  to  London  and  obtained 
a  seat  in  the  Commons  in  1837.  Disraeli  took  his  seat,  and  made  his 
maiden  speech,  the  reception  of  which  was  enough  to  quench  the  stoutest 
ambition,  and  destroy  the  most  ingrained  self-conceit.  But  it  had  only 
the  effect  of  steeling  him  in  his  resolution ;  "  the  time  shall  come  when 
you  will  hear  me!"  he  said;  and  he  made  it  his  business  thencefor- 
ward to  keep  that  promise.  By  degrees  he  schooled  himself  to  the 
style  of  speech  which  the  House  of  Commons  favors;  that  is,  he  cut 
off  some  of  the  Oriental  adornments  which  he  had  at  first  affected.  But 
in  substance,  the  principle  which  guided  him  in  rhetoric  and  argument 
was  unaltered;  it  was  the  Commons  that  altered,  and  listened  to  him, 
at  first  respectfully,  then  with  submissive  admiration.  In  time  he  became 
one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Protectionist  Tory  party.  He  was  Chancellor 
of  the  Exchequer  three  times,  and  in  1867  he  carried  his  Reform  Bill. 
He  was  Prime  Minister  in  1868,  and  again  for  six  years,  from  1874  to 
1880.  In  1876  he  was  created  a  peer  of  England  with  the  title  of  Earl 
of  Beaconsfield.  In  1878  he  was  England's  representative  at  the  Con- 
gress of  Berlin. 

Throughout  their  careers  Gladstone  and  Disraeli  were  pitted  against 
each  other;  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  each  of  them  benefitted 
greatly  by  their  antagonism.  Again  and  again,  in  their  personal  en- 
counters in  the  House,  did  the  Jew's  wit  and  readiness  give  him  at  least 
the  semblance  of  victory  over  his  great  antagonist;  his  sardonic  tongue 
was  a  terrible  weapon,  and  Gladstone  often  blenched  under  it.  Dis- 
raeli's speeches  well  repay  study.  His  speech  "  On  the  Political  Situa- 
tion "  sums  up,  in  a  general  way,  his  policy  on  many  important  political 
questions.  They  are  clever,  persuasive,  cynical  at  times,  but  in  general 
proposing  measures,  of  foreign  policy  especially,  that  capture  the  imag- 
ination by  their  boldness  or  ingenuity.  He  aimed  to  make  England  the 
greatest  nation  in  the  world — an  empire  surpassing  all  empires  of  his- 
tory;   and  his  policy  always  held  this  end  in  view. 

Disraeli  also  holds  a  prominent  place  in  the  list  of  English  authors. 
He  was  a  novelist  of  real  genius.  Among  his  most  widely  read  works 
are  "  Vivian  Grey,"  "  Lothair,"  and  "  Endymion." 

212 


ON   THE   POLITICAL   SITUATION 

Delivered  before  the  Glasgow  Conservative  Association  No- 
vember 22,  l8?3 

GENTLEMEN :  I  believe  I  may  describe  the  position  of 
this  country  as  one  of  very  great  prosperity.  There  is 
no  doubt  that  during  the  last  three  years  prosperity  has 
been  generally  acknowledged.  There  are  some  who  suppose 
that  it  may  have  received  a  check  at  the  time  when  I  paid  my 
visit  to  Glasgow.  If  it  has  received  a  check  it  will  increase,  I 
hope,  our  circumspection,  but  I  must  express  my  own  opinion 
that  no  substantial  diminution  in  the  sources  of  the  prosperity 
so  apparent  during  the  last  three  years  has  occurred.  I  think 
we  may  fairly  say  the  state  of  this  country  is  one  of  great  pros- 
perity, and  although  I  believe  and  know  that  it  is  a  prosperity 
for  which  we  are  not  indebted  either  to  Whigs  or  Tories,  al- 
though I  know  that  it  has  been  occasioned  in  a  considerable  de- 
gree, under  Providence,  by  fortuitous  though  felicitous  circum- 
stances, I  am  perfectly  ready,  speaking  to-day,  as  I  hope  to 
speak,  in  the  fairest  terms  on  public  affairs,  which  I  believe  to  be 
quite  consistent  with  the  position  of  the  leader  of  a  party — I  am 
ready  to  give  to  Her  Majesty's  Government  credit  for  the  pros- 
perity we  feel  and  acknowledge.  With  regard  to  Her  Majesty's 
ministers  themselves,  I  will  be  equally  candid,  equally  fair — I 
will  take  them  at  their  own  estimate.  They  have  lost  few  op- 
portunities of  informing  the  country  that  they  are  men  dis- 
tinguished for  commanding  talent,  admirable  eloquence,  and 
transcendent  administrative  abilities.  I  dispute  none  of  these 
propositions  any  more  than  I  do  the  prosperity  of  the  country. 
They  also  tell  us  that  the  country  being  so  prosperous,  and  they 
having  all  these  personal  advantages,  they  have  taken  the  op- 
portunity during  the  last  few  years  of  passing  measures  of  im- 
mense magnitude,  only  equalled  by  the  benefit  they  have  con- 

213 


214 


DISRAELI 


ferred  upon  the  people.  Now,  gentlemen,  I  will  not  question 
their  own  estimate  of  their  ability,  or  even  for  a  moment  their 
own  description  of  their  achievements ;  but  I  ask  this  question, 
What  is  the  reason,  when  the  country  is  so  prosperous,  when 
its  affairs  are  administered  by  so  gifted  a  government,  and  when 
they  have  succeeded  during  five  years  in  passing  measures 
of  such  a  vast  character  and  beneficence — what  is  the  reason 
that  her  Majesty's  ministers  are  going  about  regretting  that 
they  are  so  unpopular  ?  Now,  gentlemen,  I  beg  you  to  observe 
that  I  did  not  say  Her  Majesty's  ministers  are  unpopular.  I 
stated  their  own  case  and  their  own  position ;  I  say  that  under 
the  circumstances  I  have  put  fairly  before  you,  it  is  a  remarkable 
circumstance,  and  the  question  must  be  inquired  into — why 
persons  in  the  position  of  Her  Majesty's  Government  should  on 
every  occasion  deplore  the  unpopularity  they  have  incurred. 
Now,  my  opinion,  gentlemen,  is  that  that  is  not  a  question  of 
mere  curiosity — it  is  one  that,  as  I  think  I  shall  show  you,  con- 
cerns the  honor  and  the  interests  of  the  country.  If  the  coun- 
try is  so  prosperous — if  Her  Majesty's  ministers  are  so  gifted — 
if  they  have  had  such  an  ample  opportunity  of  showing  the 
talents  which  they  possess — if  they  have  done  all  this  good — if 
they  have  availed  themselves  of  this  signal  opportunity  to  ef- 
fect such  great  results,  then  the  only  inference  we  can  draw 
from  the  unpopularity  which  they  themselves  deplore  is  that 
the  people  of  this  country  is  a  fickle  and  ungrateful  people. 
Therefore,  it  is  not  a  question  of  mere  curiosity.  It  is  a  ques- 
tion that  ought  to  be  answered.  If  there  be  those  who  sup- 
pose that  the  people  of  this  country,  as  I  hold,  are  not  a 
fickle  or  ungrateful  people — that  they  are  a  people  who  may 
be  mistaken — that  they  may  be  misled ;  but  that  they  are  a 
people  who  on  the  whole  are  steadfast  in  their  convictions  and 
especially  in  their  political  convictions,  I  cannot  myself  for 
a  moment  doubt.  I  say,  then,  that  this  question,  if  left  unan- 
swered, would  show  that  Her  Majesty's  ministers  have  placed 
a  slur  on  the  character  of  the  people  of  this  kingdom,  it  ought 
to  be  answered ;  and  a  short  time  since,  some  two  months 
ago,  I  answered  it.  It  appeared  to  me,  at  that  moment  espe- 
cially, when  all  those  circumstances  to  which  I  have  referred 
were  clearly  before  the  country,  and  when  Her  Majesty's  Gov- 
ernment, by  their  ablest  and  most  powerful  representatives, 


ON   THE   POLITICAL   SITUATION  215 

were  deploring  their  unpopularity,  and  asking  the  reason  why, 
or  rather  intimating  by  inference  that  it  was  the  fault  of  the 
people,  not  of  the  Government,  that  someone  should  give  an 
answer  to  that  question.  I  gave  it,  and  in  a  very  brief  form 
— in  the  most  condensed  and  the  most  severely  accurate  form. 
There  is  not  an  expression  in  that  description  of  the  conduct 
of  the  Government  which  was  not  well  weighed ;  there  was 
not  a  word  for  which  I  had  not  warranty,  for  which  I  could 
not  adduce  testimony  ample  and  abounding.  There  was  only 
one  characteristic  of  that  description  which  was  not  noticed  at 
the  time,  and  which  I  will  now  confess — it  was  not  original,  for 
six  months  before  in  the  House  of  Commons  I  had  used  the 
same  expressions  and  made  the  same  statement — not  in  a  hole 
or  corner,  but  on  the  most  memorable  night  of  the  session, 
when  there  were  six  hundred  members  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons present,  when  on  the  debate  that  took  place  avowedly  the 
fate  of  the  ministry  depended.  It  was  at  midnight  that  I  rose 
to  speak,  and  made  the  statement  almost  similar  in  expression, 
though  perhaps  stronger  and  more  lengthened  than  the  one 
which  has  become  the  cause  of  recent  controversy.  The  Prime 
Minister  followed  me  in  that  debate.  The  House  of  Commons 
knew  what  was  depending  upon  the  verdict  about  to  be  taken, 
and  with  all  that  knowledge  they  came  to  a  division,  and  by  a 
majority  terminated  the  existence  of  the  Government.  Gentle- 
men, it  surprises  me,  then,  that,  having  made  that  statement 
six  months  after,  with  the  advantage  of  six  months'  more  ex- 
perience and  observation,  it  should  have  so  much  offended  Her 
Majesty's  Government.  The  ministers  sighed,  and  their  news- 
papers screamed.  The  question  I  have  to  ask,  and  in  this  your 
interests  are  vitally  concerned — the  question  is,  was  the  state- 
ment I  made  a  true  and  accurate  one?  You  cannot  answer 
statements  of  this  kind  by  saying,  "  Oh,  fie !  how  very  rude." 
You  must  at  least  adduce  arguments  in  order  to  prove  that  the 
statement  which  you  do  not  sanction  is  one  that  ought  not  to 
have  been  made.  And  therefore  I  ask  you  to-day,  in  the  first 
place,  is  it  or  is  it  not  true  that  the  Irish  Church  has  been 
despoiled  ?  Is  it  or  is  it  not  true  that  the  gentlemen  of  Ireland 
have  been  severely  amerced  ?  Is  it  or  is  it  not  true  that  a  royal 
commission  has  been  issued  which  has  dealt  with  the  ancient  en- 
dowments of  this  country  in  so  ruthless  a  manner  that  Parlia- 


2r6  DISRAELI 

ment  has  frequently  been  called  upon  to  interfere,  and  has  ad- 
dressed the  Crown  to  arrest  their  propositions  ?  Are  these  facts 
or  are  they  not  ?  Well,  I  did  then  venture  to  say  that  they  had 
"  harassed  trades  and  worried  professions,"  as  reasons  why  men 
naturally  become  unpopular.  Was  that  true  or  was  it  not? 
Because,  after  all,  everything  depends  on  the  facts  of  the  state- 
ment. I  won't  enter  into  a  long  catalogue  of  trades,  com-1 
mencing  with  the  important  trade  of  which  we  have  heard  so 
much,  and  which  has  made  itself  felt  at  so  many  elections,  down 
to  the  humblest  trade — the  lucifer-match  makers — who  fell 
upon  their  knees  in  Palace  Yard.  I  suppose  there  are  some 
Scotch  farmers  present,  or,  at  least,  those  who  are  intimately 
connected  with  them.  I  want  to  know  whether  trade  was  har- 
assed when  a  proposition  was  brought  before  the  House  of  Com- 
mons to  take  their  carts  and  horses,  and  all  the  machinery  of 
their  cultivation  ?  I  know  how  the  proposition  was  received  in 
England,  and  I  doubt  not  the  Scotch  farmers,  like  the  English, 
felt  extremely  harassed  by  it.  I  want  to  know  what  is  the  rea- 
son why  there  is  this  crusade  throughout  the  country  against 
schedule  D  of  the  Income  Tax.  The  Income  Tax  has  beea 
borne  for  thirty  years  with  great  self-sacrifice  and  with  great 
loyalty  by  the  people  of  this  country.  It  is  at  this  moment  at 
the  lowest  pitch  it  has  ever  reached  ;  how  is  it,  then,  that  it  is  at 
this  moment  more  unpopular  than  it  was  at  any  time  during  the 
long  period  we  endured  it  at  a  much  higher  figure?  It  is  on 
account  of  the  assessment  of  the  trades  of  England  under  that 
schedule.  It  is  the  vexatious  and  severe  assessment  that  has 
harassed  tradesmen,  who,  like  all  those  who  come  under  that 
act,  are  not  particularly  pleased,  when  they  are  paying  five  quar- 
ters of  income  tax  in  the  year,  to  learn  also  that  they  are  in  ar- 
rears. Then,  have  the  professions  been  worried?  Ask  the 
military  profession.  Is  it  not  true  that  at  this  moment  a 
royal  commission  is  examining  in  London  into  the  grievances 
of  six  thousand  officers?  Ask  the  naval  profession  whether 
they  have  not  been  worried.  During  the  course  of  the  present 
Government  the  whole  administrative  system  of  the  Admiralty, 
the  council  that  had  always  great  influence  in  the  management 
of  the  navy,  and  the  peculiar  office  of  the  secretary,  were  all 
swept  away ;  and  in  spite  I  may  say  of  the  nightly  warnings  of 
a  right  honorable  friend  who  is  now  lost  to  us  all  and  his  coun- 


ON   THE    POLITICAL   SITUATION  217 

try,  the  ablest  minister  of  the  Admiralty  during  the  present 
reign — notwithstanding  his  nightly  warnings  that  they  were  so 
conducting  the  administration  of  the  navy  that  they  would 
probably  fall  into  some  disaster,  his  remonstrances  were  in  vain, 
till  soon  the  most  costly  vessel  of  the  State  was  lost,  and  the  per- 
ilous voyage  of  the  "  Megsera  "  had  been  made,  when  the  coun- 
try would  stand  it  no  longer.  They  rescinded  the  whole  of  this 
worrying  arrangement,  and  appointed  a  new  First  Lord  to  re- 
establish the  old  system.  Is  that  worrying  a  profession,  or  is  it 
not?  Well,  gentlemen,  I  can  speak  of  another  profession — 
a  profession  the  most  important  in  the  State — the  civil  service 
profession.  Has  it  been  worried  ?  Is  it  now  in  a  process  of 
worrying,  or  is  it  not  ?  There  are  many  even  in  this  room  well 
acquainted  with  the  position  of  the  civil  service  in  all  its  depart- 
ments. I  might  say  the  same  of  the  legal  profession,  for  I  have 
heard  lawyers  on  both  sides  of  the  House  in  the  debates  of 
last  session  agree  in  imploring  the  Government  not  to  continue 
propositions  which  would  infallibly  weaken  the  administration 
of  justice  in  this  country.  It  is  not  only  these  professions  and 
trades  who  are  directly  attacked,  but  it  is  every  one  that  is  har- 
assed, because  no  one  knows  whose  turn  will  come  next.  Well, 
I  did  say  to  the  House  of  Commons — and  I  afterwards  ex- 
pressed it  in  another  form — I  said  they  had  attacked  every  class 
and  institution  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest  in  the  country. 
Is  that  true  or  is  it  not?  Is  it  not  a  fact  that  Her  Majesty's 
Government  on  every  occasion  of  which  they  could  avail  them- 
selves during  the  last  three  years  attacked  the  authority  of  the 
House  of  Lords,  scoffed  at  the  existence  of  its  high  functions, 
and  even  defied  its  decisions,  until  the  result  proved  that  the 
House  of  Lords  was  extremely  popular  in  the  country,  and  Her 
Majesty's  Government  were  obliged  to  confess  that  they  them- 
selves were  exceeding  unpopular?  But  you  must  remember 
this,  that  the  same  body  who  attacked  the  House  of  Lords  also 
brought  in  a  bill  which  would  have  attacked  the  poor  inheritance 
of  the  widow  and  the  orphan.  Now,  I  think  I  have  shown  from 
the  highest  to  the  lowest  the  same  system  prevailed.  What  oc- 
curred in  the  interval  ?  The  Churches  of  England  and  Scotland 
have  been  threatened.  It  has  been  publicly  said  by  the  highest 
authority  in  the  House  of  Commons  that  he  did  not  believe  that 
the  House  of  Commons  would  sanction  the  views  of  those  who 


2i8  DISRAELI 

wished  to  pull  down  the  venerable  establishments,  but  he 
recommended  them  to  agitate  out  of  doors  and  endeavor  to  ex- 
cite public  opinion  against  them.  Then,  again,  I  said  jobs  were 
perpetrated  that  outraged  public  opinion.  Is  that  true  or  is  it 
not  ?  Is  it  not  a  fact  that  two  years  ago  the  whole  country  was 
outraged  by  persons  being  appointed  to  important  offices  in 
Church  and  State  in  direct  violation  of  the  language  of  Acts  of 
Parliament? — that  the  ministry  in  that  respect  exercised  that 
dispensing  power  which  forfeited  the  crown  of  James  II  ?  Was 
not  public  indigation  roused  to  the  highest  degree  upon  the 
Collier  appointment  and  a  similar  one  ?  Were  these  acts  perpe- 
trated, and  did  they  outrage  public  opinion  ?  Everyone  knows 
from  his  own  individual  experience  that  public  opinion  was 
outraged.  I  have  said,  also,  that  they  stumbled  into  errors 
which  were  always  discreditable  and  sometimes  ruinous.  That 
was  called  violent  language.  Gentlemen,  I  never  use  violent 
language ;  violent  language  is  generally  weak  language ;  but  I 
hope  my  language  is  sometimes  strong.  Now,  let  us  look  at 
this  statement.  I  said  that  they  stumbled  into  errors  which 
were  always  discreditable  and  sometimes  ruinous.  Was  the 
Zanzibar  contract  not  an  "  error,"  and  was  it  not  "  discredita- 
ble "  ?  Was  the  conduct  of  the  Treasury  in  allowing  a  subordi- 
nate officer  to  misappropriate  nearly  a  million  of  the  public 
money  not  an  "  error,"  and  was  it  not  "  discreditable  "  ?  When 
the  Government  had  referred  the  Alabama  claims  to  the  arbitra- 
ment of  a  third  State,  was  not  the  change  of  the  law  of  na- 
tions by  the  three  rules  an  "  error  "  ?  Was  that  not  "  discredit- 
able," and  in  its  consequences  was  it  not  "  ruinous  "  ? 

I  have  now  given  an  answer  to  the  question  why  the  Gov- 
ernment, with  transcendent  abilities,  as  they  tell  us,  with  mag- 
nificent exploits  which  they  are  always  extolling,  and  with  a 
country  whose  prosperity  is  so  palpable — they  ask  us  why  they 
are  unpopular,  and  I  tell  them  why.  They  have  harassed 
and  worried  the  country,  and  there  was  no  necessity  for  any  of 
the  acts  they  have  committed.  I  have  put  it  in  condensed  and, 
I  am  sure,  accurate  language.  There  was  an  illustrious  writer, 
one  of  the  greatest  masters  of  our  language,  who  wrote  the  his- 
tory of  the  last  four  years  of  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne,  which 
was  the  duration  of  an  illustrious  ministry.  I  have  written  the 
history  of  a  ministry  that  has  lasted  five  years,  and  I  have  im- 


ON   THE   POLITICAL   SITUATION  219 

mortalized  the  spirit  of  their  policy  in  five  lines.     And  now,  gen- 
tlemen, I  will  tell  you  what  is  the  unfortunate  cause  of  this  polit- 
ical embarrassment ;  why,  with  such  favorable  circumstances  as 
the  present  Government  have  encountered  ;  why,  with  the  great 
ability  which  no  man  is  more  conscious  than  myself  that  they 
possess ;  why,  with  the  most  anxious  and  earnest  desire,  for 
which  I  give  them  entire  credit,  to  do  their  duty  to  their  sov- 
ereign and  their  fellow-countrymen,  the  result  has  been  so  mor- 
tifying.    I  told  it  two  years  ago  to  the  assembled  county  of 
Lancaster,  when  I  met  not  only  the  greatest  proprietors  of  the 
soil,  but  deputations  and  delegations  of  the  choicest  citizens 
from  every  town  and  city  of  that  great  county.     I  told  them, 
speaking  with  the  sense  of  the  deepest  responsibility,  which,  I 
trust,  also  animates  me  now — I  told  them  that  the  cause  was 
that  this  Government,  unfortunately,  in  its  beginning,  had  been 
founded  on  a  principle  of  violence,  and  that  fatal  principle  had 
necessarily  vitiated  their  whole  course.     And  what  have  we 
gained  by  that  principle  of  violence?     Let  us  consider  it,  here 
even,  with  impartiality  and  perfect  candor.     I  am  now  referring 
to  the  Irish  policy  of  the  ministry.     I  say  it  is  quite  possible  for 
public  men,  with  the  view  of  obtaining  some  great  object  ad- 
vantageous to  the  country,  to  devise  and  pass  measures  which 
may  utterly  fail  in  accomplishing  their  purpose,  and  yet,  how- 
ever mortifying  to  themselves,  however  disappointing  to  the 
country,  there  would  be  no  stain  upon  their  reputation.     We 
cannot  command,  but  we  must  endeavor  in  public  life  to  deserve 
success.     If,  therefore,  it  is  said  that  the  Government  proposed 
the  large  measures  which  they  did  with  respect  to  Ireland  in 
order  to  terminate  the  grievances  of  years  and  the  embarrass- 
ment to  England,  which  the  state  of  Ireland  certainly  was,  al- 
though they  may  have  failed,  their  position  was  one  which 
still  might  be  a  position  of  respect.     That  they  have  failed  in 
this  instance  no  one  can  doubt.     A  great  portion  of  Ireland  at 
this  moment  is  in  a  state  of  veiled  rebellion.     But  what  I  charge 
upon  the  Government  is  this,  not  that  their  measures  fail — for 
all  measures  may  fail — not  that  their  measures  fail  to  prevent  or 
to  suppress  this  veiled  rebellion  in  Ireland,  but  that  their  meas- 
ures, which  they  brought  forward  to  appease  and  settle,  to 
tranquillize  and  consolidate  Ireland,  are  the  very  cause  that  this 
veiled  rebellion  is  taking  place.     For,  gentlemen,  what  was  the 


220  DISRAELI 

principle  upon  which  the  whole  of  their  policy  with  respect  to 
Ireland  was  founded  ?  What  was  the  principle  upon  which 
they  induced  Parliament  to  confiscate  and  to  despoil  Church 
and  private  property  in  Ireland?  It  was  that  Ireland  must  be 
governed  on  Irish  principles — the  administration  of  Ireland 
must  be  carried  on  with  reference  to  Irish  feeling.  If  that  is 
a  sound  principle  and  a  sound  sentiment  in  politics,  it  is  a  perfect 
vindication  of  what  is  occurring  in  the  city  of  Dublin  at  this 
moment — viz.,  an  assembly  of  men  whose  great  and  avowed 
object  is  to  dissever  the  connection  between  the  two  countries. 
If  we  are  not  to  legislate  for  Ireland  with  reference  to  imperial 
feelings  and  general  and  national  interests — if  we  are  only  to 
legislate  with  reference  to  Irish  feelings,  it  is  perfectly  evident 
that  if  there  is  a  majority  of  the  Irish  people  who  may  take  any 
idea  in  the  world  into  their  heads,  however  ruinous  to  them- 
selves and  however  fatal  to  the  empire,  that  policy  must  be  rec- 
ognized by  this  country.  It  is,  therefore,  to  that  principle, 
avowedly  and  ostentatiously  brought  forward  by  the  ministry  as 
the  basis  of  their  Irish  policy,  that  I  trace  the  dangerous  condi- 
tion in  which  Ireland  is  now  placed.  Well,  then,  I  say  this  pol- 
icy of  violence  for  which  such  sacrifices  were  made,  for  which 
institutions  and  interests  which  were,  at  least,  faithful  to  Britain 
were  sacrificed — this  policy  of  violence  has  led  only  to  a  state  of 
affairs,  unfortunately,  more  unsatisfactory  than  that  which  pre- 
vailed before. 

Now,  gentlemen,  I  observe  in  the  paper  that  the  day  is  fixed 
for  the  reassembling  of  Parliament.  The  time  is  not  yet  very 
near,  but  when  you  find  Her  Majesty  has  appointed  the  day  for 
our  reassembling,  it  is  an  intimation  that  we  must  begin  to  con- 
sider the  public  business  a  little,  and,  therefore,  it  is  not  alto- 
gether inconvenient  that  we  should  be  talking  upon  these  mat- 
ters to-day.  Now,  when  we  meet  Parliament,  I  apprehend  the 
first  business  that  will  be  brought  before  us  will  be  the  Ashantee 
war.  Upon  that  subject  my  mouth  is  closed.  I  will  not  even 
make  an  observation  upon  the  railway  which  I  believe  has  been 
returned  to  England.  Whenever  this  country  is  externally  in- 
volved in  a  difficulty,  whatever  I  may  think  of  its  cause  or 
origin,  those  with  whom  I  act,  and  myself,  have  no  other  duty 
to  fulfil  but  to  support  the  existing  Government  in  extricating 
the  country  from  its  difficulties  and  vindicating  the  honor  and 


ON    THE    POLITICAL   SITUATION  221 

interests  of  Great  Britain.  The  time  will  come,  gentlemen,  no 
doubt,  when  we  shall  know  something  of  the  secret  history  of 
that  mysterious  mess  of  the  Ashantee  war,  but  we  have  now 
but  one  duty  to  fulfil,  which  is  to  give  every  assistance  to  the 
Government  in  order  that  they  may  take  those  steps  which  the 
interests  of  the  country  require.  I  should  indeed,  myself,  from 
my  own  individual  experience,  be  most  careful  not  to  follow 
the  example  which  one  of  the  most  distinguished  members  of 
the  present  administration  pursued  with  respect  to  us  when  we 
had  to  encounter  the  Abyssinian  difficulty.  Mr.  Lowe  thought 
proper  to  rise  in  Parliament  when  I  introduced  the  necessity  of 
interference  in  order  to  escape  from  difficulties  which  we  had 
inherited  and  not  created.  Mr.  Lowe  rose  in  Parliament  and 
violently  attacked  the  Government  of  the  day  for  the  absurdity, 
the  folly,  the  extreme  imprudence  of  attempting  any  interfer- 
ence in  the  affairs  of  Abyssinia.  He  laughed  at  the  honor  of 
the  country,  he  laughed  at  the  interests  of  a  few  enslaved  sub- 
jects of  the  Queen  of  England  being  compared,  as  he  said,  with 
the  certain  destruction  and  disaster  which  must  attend  any  in- 
terference on  our  part.  He  described  the  horrors  of  the  coun- 
try and  the  terrors  of  the  climate.  He  said  there  was  no  possi- 
bility by  which  any  success  could  be  obtained,  and  the  people 
of  England  must  prepare  themselves  for  the  most  horrible  catas- 
trophe. He  described  not  only  the  fatal  influences  of  the  cli- 
mate, but  I  remember  he  described  one  pink  fly  alone,  which  he 
said  would  eat  up  the  whole  British  army.  He  was  as  vitupera- 
tive of  the  insects  of  Abyssinia  as  if  they  had  been  British  work- 
men. 

Now,  gentlemen,  there  is  a  most  interesting  and  important 
subject  which  concerns  us  all,  and  which  it  is  not  impossible 
may  be  submitted  to  the  consideration  of  Parliament  by  Her 
Majesty's  ministers,  because  I  observe  a  letter  published  in  a 
newspaper  by  the  authority  of  the  Prime  Minister  which  is 
certainly  calculated  to  arrest  public  attention.  That  is  a  letter 
respecting  the  subject  of  parliamentary  reform.  I  think  it 
is  not  undesirable  that  at  a  moment  when  letters  of  this  kind 
are  circulated,  and  when  there  is  a  good  deal  of  loose  talking 
prevalent  in  the  country  on  the  subject,  I  should  take  this  op- 
portunity of  calling  your  attention  to  some  considerations  on 
this  subject  which  may  occupy  you  after  my  visit  to  Glasgow 


222  DISRAELI 

has  terminated,  and  may  not  be,  I  think,  unprofitable.  Her 
Majesty's  Government  are  not  pledged,  but  after  the  letter  of 
the  Prime  Minister  announcing  his  own  opinion,  and  the  indica- 
tion of  the  probability  of  the  Government  considering  the  ques- 
tion of  further  parliamentary  reform,  there  are  two  points  which 
the  Government  ought  to  consider  when  they  come  to  that 
question.  The  first  is  the  expediency  of  having  any  further 
parliamentary  reform.  They  will  have  to  remember  that  very 
wise  statesmen  have  been  of  opinion  that  there  is  no  more  dan- 
gerous and  feeble  characteristic  of  a  state  than  perpetually  to 
be  dwelling  on  what  is  called  organic  change.  The  habit,  it 
has  been  said  in  politics,  of  perpetually  considering  your  politi- 
cal constitution  can  only  be  compared  to  that  of  the  individual 
who  is  always  considering  the  state  of  his  health  and  his  physi- 
cal constitution.  You  know  what  occurs  in  such  circum- 
stances— he  becomes  infirm  and  valetudinarian.  In  fact,  there 
is  a  school  of  politics  which  looks  at  the  English  constitution 
as  valetudinarian.  They  are  always  looking  at  its  tongue  and 
feeling  its  pulse,  and  devising  means  by  which  they  may  give 
it  a  tonic.  The  Government  will  have  to  consider  that  very 
important  point,  first  of  all  whether  it  is  expedient.  I  am  not 
giving  any  opinion  upon  it — being  only  a  private  member  of 
Parliament,  that  is  quite  unnecessary — but  I  am  indicating  the 
consideration  that  would  occur  to  a  responsible  statesman. 
They  will  also  have  to  consider  this  important  point,  that  what- 
ever minister  embarks  in  a  campaign  of  parliamentary  reform 
must  make  up  his  mind  that  he  will  necessarily  arrest  the  prog- 
ress of  all  other  public  business  in  the  country.  I  will  show 
you  to  what  extent  that  consideration  should  prevail.  Parlia- 
mentary reform,  as  a  new  question,  was  introduced  in  the 
House  of  Commons  in  1852  by  Lord  John  Russell,  and  from 
1852  to  1866,  or  the  end  of  1865,  it  was  introduced  annually; 
four  prime  ministers  had  pledged  themselves  to  the  expediency 
of  parliamentary  reform  ;  the  subject  made  no  progress  in  Par- 
liament, but  took  tip  a  great  deal  of  time ;  a  great  portion  of 
the  parliamentary  sessions  for  these  twelve  or  thirteen  years 
was  taken  up  by  discussions  on  parliamentary  reform  ;  and  the 
country  got  very  ill-tempered,  finding  that  no  reform  was  ever 
advanced,  and  other  and  more  important  subjects  were  neg- 
lected.  At  last  it  was  taken  up  by  men  determined  to  carry  it 


ON   THE   POLITICAL   SITUATION  223 

— first  by  Lord  Russell,  who  did  not  carry  it,  and  afterwards  by 
others ;  but,  observe,  the  whole  of  1866,  1867,  and  1868  was  en- 
tirely absorbed  by  the  subject  of  parliamentary  reform.  There- 
fore, you  will  observe  that  when  important  subjects  in  legisla- 
tion are  neglected  you  must  be  prepared  to  discourage  any 
further  demand  for  parliamentary  reform  unless  you  feel  an 
insuperable  necessity  for  it,  because  if  you  want  parliamentary 
reform  you  cannot  have  any  of  those  great  measures  with  regard 
to  local  taxation  or  Other  subjects  in  which  you  are  all  so  much 
interested.  That  is  the  first  consideration  for  the  Government 
of  the  present  day  to  determine,  whether  they  shall  embark  in 
the  question  of  parliamentary  reform.  Is  it  necessary  ?  Is  the 
necessity  of  such  a  character  that  it  outweighs  the  immense 
inconvenience  of  sacrificing  all  other  public  and  progressive 
measures  for  the  advancement  of  this  particular  measure? 
Then  there  comes  another  subject  of  consideration.  I  dwell 
upon  these  subjects  because  I  apprehend  that  one  of  the  reasons 
for  our  meeting  this  evening  is  that  upon  questions  which  are 
likely  to  engage  the  public  attention  so  far  as  those  whom  you 
honor  with  your  confidence  can  give  you  any  guidance,  it  is  as 
well  that  I  should  indicate  to  you  briefly  my  general  views  of 
the  situation.  The  next  point,  therefore,  that  Government  will 
have  to  consider  if  they  make  up  their  minds  to  bring  forward 
a  measure  of  parliamentary  reform,  is  the  character  of  the  meas- 
ure, and  that  will  be  a  most  anxious  question  for  them  to  decide. 
I  think  I  may  say  without  conceit  that  the  subject  of  parliamen- 
tary reform  is  one  that  I  am  entitled  to  speak  upon  at  least  with 
some  degree  of  authority.  I  have  given  to  it  the  consideration 
of  some  forty  years,  and  am  responsible  for  the  most  important 
measure  on  the  subject  that  has  been  carried.  I  would  say  this, 
that  it  is  impossible  to  go  further  in  the  direction  of  parlia- 
mentary reform  than  the  bill  of  1867-68  without  entirely  sub- 
verting the  whole  of  the  borough  representation  of  this  coun- 
try. I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  if  there  was  a  place  disfranchised 
to-morrow  for  corruption,  it  would  not  be  possible  to  enfran- 
chise a  very  good  place  in  its  stead ;  but,  speaking  generally, 
you  cannot  go  beyond  the  Act  of  1867  without  making  up  your 
mind  entirely  to  break  up  the  borough  representation  of  this 
country.  The  people  of  Great  Britain  ought  to  be  aware  that 
that  is  the  necessary  consequence.     So  far  as  I  am  concerned 


224  DISRAELI 

I  never  could  view  the  matter  in  a  party  light.  If  I  were  to 
accustom  myself  to  view  it  in  a  party  light  I  might  look  with 
unconcern  on  this  difficulty,  for  the  smaller  boroughs  of  the 
country  are  not,  on  the  whole,  favorable  to  our  views.  I  am 
proud  to  think  our  party  is  supported  by  the  great  counties, 
and  now  to  a  great  extent  by  great  towns  and  cities ;  but  I  do 
not  consider  the  smaller  boroughs  favorable  to  Conservative 
views.  It  is  the  national  sympathies  and  wide  sentiments  of 
those  who  live  in  our  great  cities  that  are  much  more  calculated 
to  rally  round  the  cause  in  which  we  are  deeply  concerned — 
the  greatness  and  glory  of  our  country.  This  ought  to  be 
known,  that  if  those  who  intend  to  have  a  further  measure  of 
parliamentary  reform,  and  have  digested  that  large  meal  which 
they  had  a  few  years  ago,  they  should  remember  that  there  is 
no  borough  in  England  with  under  40,000  inhabitants  that 
would  have  any  claim  to  be  represented  even  by  one  member. 
Now  that  is  a  very  important  consideration  if,  as  we  are  told,  the 
small  boroughs  of  between  ten  and  fifteen  thousand  inhabitants 
are  the  backbone  of  the  Liberal  party.  They  may  be,  and  I 
think  they  are,  but  I  should  be  very  sorry  to  see  them  disfran- 
chised, for  they  are  centres  of  public  spirit  and  intelligence  in 
the  country,  influencing  very  much  the  districts  in  which  they 
are  situated,  and  affording  a  various  representation  of  the  mind 
and  life  of  the  country.  But  it  is  inevitable  that  that  would  oc- 
cur, and  I  think,  therefore,  it  ought  to  be  well  understood  by 
the  country  when  you  hear  persons  without  the  slightest 
consideration  saying  they  are  prepared  to  vote  for  this,  or  in 
favor  of  that,  whereas  they  have  not  really  mastered  the  ques- 
tion in  any  degree  whatever.  So  far  as  I  am  concerned,  any 
proposition  to  change  the  representation  of  the  people  brought 
forward  by  Her  Majesty's  Government  will  receive  my  respect- 
ful and  candid  consideration.  But  I  say  at  once  that  I  will  vote 
for  no  measure  of  that  kind,  or  of  that  class  which  is  brought 
forward  by  some  irresponsible  individual,  who,  on  the  eve  of  a 
general  election,  wants  to  make  a  claptrap  career.  I  think  it 
is  perfectly  disgusting  for  individuals  to  jump  up  in  the  House 
of  Commons  without  the  slightest  responsibility,  official  or 
moral,  and  make  propositions  which  demand  the  gravest  con- 
sideration of  prolonged  and  protracted  cabinets,  with  all  the 
responsibility  attaching  to  experienced  statesmen.     Now,  gen- 


ON   THE    POLITICAL   SITUATION 


225 


tlemen,  although  I  have  rather  exceeded  the  time  I  had  intend- 
ed, there  are  one  or  two  more  remarks  I  should  like  to  make 
on  subjects  which  interest  us  all.  And  first,  as  the  only  feature 
in  our  domestic  life  that  gives  me  uneasiness,  are  the  relations 
at  present  between  capital  and  labor,  and  between  the  employ- 
ers and  employed.  I  must  say  one  word  upon  that  subject.  If 
there  are  any  relations  in  the  world  which  should  be  those  of 
sympathy  and  perfect  confidence,  they  always  appear  to  be  the 
relations  which  should  subsist  between  employers  and  em- 
ployed, and  especially  in  manufacturing  life.  They  are,  in  fact, 
much  more  intimate  and  more  necessary  relations  than  those 
which  subsist  between  landlords  and  tenants.  It  is  an  ex- 
tremely painful  thing  that  of  late  years  we  so  frequently  hear  of 
misunderstandings  between  the  employers  and  the  employed — 
that  they  look  upon  each  other  with  suspicion — with  mutual 
suspicion — as  if  each  were  rapaciously  inclined  either  to  ob- 
tain or  retain  the  greater  share  of  the  profits  of  their  trade  ;  and 
those  incidents  with  which  you  are  all  acquainted,  of  a  very 
painful  nature,  have  been  the  consequence.  I  am  not  talking 
of  demands  for  an  increase  of  wages  when  men  are  carrying 
on  what  is  called  a  roaring  trade — I  believe  that  is  the  classical 
epithet  taken  from  the  Manchester  school.  When  a  roaring 
trade  is  going  on,  I  am  not  at  all  surprised  that  workingmen 
should  ask  for  an  increase  of  wages.  But  a  trade  some- 
times ceases  to  roar,  when  wages  naturally,  on  the  same  prin- 
ciple, assume  a  form  more  adapted  to  the  circumstances.  No 
doubt,  during  the  last  twenty  years  there  appears  to  have  been, 
not  a  passing  and  temporary  cause  of  disturbance  like  the 
incidents  of  trade  being  very  active  or  reduced,  but  some  per- 
manent cause  disturbing  prices,  which  alike  confuses  the  em- 
ployer in  his  calculations  as  to  profits  and  embarrasses  the 
employer  from  the  greater  expenditure  which  they  find  it  neces- 
sary to  make.  Now,  I  cannot  but  feel  myself — having  given  to 
the  subject  as  much  consideration  as  I  could — I  cannot  help 
feeling  that  the  large  and  continuous  increase  of  the  precious 
metals,  especially  during  the  last  twenty  years,  has  certainly 
produced  no  inconsiderable  effect — not  only  in  trade,  but  no  in- 
considerable effect  in  prices.  I  will  not,  on  an  occasion  like 
this,  enter  into  anything  like  an  abstruse  discussion.  I  confine 
myself  to  giving  my  opinion  and  the  results  which  I  draw  from 
Vol.  II. -15 


226  DISRAELI 

it ;  and  this  moral,  which  I  think  is  worthy  of  consideration.  If 
it  can  be  shown  accurately  and  scientifically  that  there  is  a 
cause  affecting  a  prominent  class,  reducing  the  average  remu- 
neration of  the  employed,  and  confusing  and  confounding  the 
employer  in  his  calculations  as  to  profits — if  that  can  be  shown, 
and  if  it  is  proved  to  be  the  result  of  inexorable  laws,  far  beyond 
the  reach  of  legislation,  and  of  circumstances  over  which  hu- 
man beings  have  no  control — I  think  if  that  could  be  shown, 
and  employers  and  employed  had  sufficient  acuteness  ard 
knowledge — and  I  am  sure  that  in  Scotland  both  will  have  *o 
acknowledge  that  result — it  would  very  much  change  tho"<e 
mutual  feelings  of  suspicion  and  sentiments  of  a  not  pleasant 
character  which  occasionally  prevail  when  they  find  that  they 
are  both  of  them  the  victims,  as  it  were,  of  some  inexorable  law 
of  political  economy  which  cannot  be  resisted.  I  think,  in- 
stead of  supposing  that  each  wanted  to  take  advantage  of  the 
other,  they  would  feel  inclined  to  put  their  shoulders  to  the 
wheel,  accurately  ascertain  whether  this  be  true,  and  come  to 
some  understanding  which  would  very  much  mitigate  the  rela- 
tions which  subsist  between  them,  and  I  have  little  doubt  the 
effect  would  be  to  increase  the  average  rate  of  wages,  with  my 
views  as  to  the  effect  of  the  continuous  increase  of  the  precious 
metals.  But,  at  the  same  time,  I  have  not  the  slightest  doubt 
the  employer  wrould,  in  the  nature  of  things,  find  adequate  com- 
pensation for  the  new  position  in  which  he  would  find  himself. 
There  is  one  point  before  I  sit  down  to  which  I  wish  to  call  your 
attention,  because  if  I  am  correct  in  saying  that  the  question  of 
the  relations  between  the  employer  and  employed  is  the  only 
one  that  gives  me  anxiety  at  home,  there  is  a  subject  abroad  to 
which,  I  think,  I  ought,  on  an  occasion  like  this,  to  draw  your 
notice ;  and  this  is  the  contest  that,  is  commencing  in  Europe 
between  the  spiritual  and  temporal  powers.  Gentlemen,  I  look 
upon  it  as  very  grave,  as  pregnant  with  circumstances  which 
may  greatly  embarrass  Europe.  The  religious  sentiment  is 
often  and  generally  taken  advantage  of  by  political  classes,  who 
use  it  as  a  pretext ;  and  there  is  much  going  on  in  Europe  at 
the  present  moment  which,  it  appears  to  me,  may  occasion  us 
soon  much  anxiety  in  this  communitv.  I  should  myself  look 
upon  it  as  the  greatest  danger  to  civilization  if,  in  the  struggle 
that  is  going  on  between  faith  and  free  thought,  the  respective 


ON   THE   POLITICAL   SITUATION 


227 


sides  should  only  be  represented  by  the  papacy  and  the  red  re- 
public ;  and  here  I  must  say  that  if  we  have  before  us  the  pros- 
pect of  struggles — perhaps  of  wars  and  anarchy,  ultimately — 
caused  by  the  great  question  that  is  now  rising  in  Europe,  it  will 
not  easily  be  in  the  power  of  England  entirely  to  withhold  her- 
self from  such  circumstances.  Our  connection  with  Ireland 
will  then  be  brought  painfully  to  our  consciousness,  and  I 
should  not  be  at  all  surprised  if  the  visor  of  Home  Rule  should 
fall  off  some  day,  and  you  beheld  a  very  different  countenance. 
Now,  gentlemen,  I  think  we  ought  to  be  prepared  for  those  cir- 
cumstances. The  position  of  England  is  one  which  is  indica- 
tive of  dangers  arising  from  holding  a  middle  course  upon  those 
matters.  It  may  be  open  to  England  again  to  take  a  stand 
upon  the  Reformation  which  three  hundred  years  ago  was  the 
source  of  her  greatness  and  her  glory,  and  it  may  be  her  proud 
destiny  to  guard  civilization  alike  from  the  withering  blast  of 
atheism  and  from  the  simoom  of  sacerdotal  usurpation.  These 
things  may  be  far  off,  but  we  live  in  a  rapid  age,  and  my  appre- 
hension is  that  they  are  nearer  than  some  suppose.  If  that 
struggle  comes  we  must  look  to  Scotland  to  aid  us.  It  was 
once,  and  I  hope  is  still,  a  land  of  liberty,  of  patriotism,  and  of 
religion.  I  think  the  time  has  come  when  it  really  should  leave 
off  mumbling  the  dry  bones  of  political  economy  and  munching 
the  remainder  biscuit  of  an  effete  Liberalism.  We  all  know 
that  a  general  election  is  at  hand.  I  do  not  ask  you  to  consider 
on  such  an  occasion  the  fate  of  parties  or  of  ministers.  But  I 
ask  you  to  consider  this,  that  it  is  very  probable  that  the  future 
of  Europe  depends  greatly  on  the  character  of  the  next  Parlia- 
ment of  England.  I  ask  you,  when  the  occasion  comes,  to  act 
as  becomes  an  ancient  and  famous  nation,  and  give  all  your  en- 
ergies for  the  cause  of  faith  and  freedom. 


ON    PROGRESS 


BY 


HENRY     EDWARD,    CARDINAL    MANNING 


HENRY    EDWARD,    CARDINAL   MANNING 
1808—1892 

Henry  Edward  Manning  was  born  at  Totteridge,  Hertfordshire,  in 
1808.  He  began  his  education  at  Harrow,  and  in  1827  went  to  Oxford, 
where  he  was  graduated,  first  in  classics,  in  1830,  and  two  years  after 
was  elected  Fellow  of  Merton  College.  This  was  just  at  the  beginning 
of  the  Tractarian  movement,  in  which  Manning  took  no  active  part  at 
Oxford,  for  he  left  the  university  in  1833  for  the  rectorship  of  Woollav- 
ington  and  Graffham,  Sussex.  He  was,  however,  a  decided  High 
Churchman.  His  abilities  were  early  recognized  by  his  appointment  as 
archdeacon  of  Chichester  in  1840,  the  year  before  the  celebrated  Tract 
"  90  "  was  published.  Manning  must  be  called  an  ambitious  man,  if 
ambition  means  a  consciousness  of  great  powers  coupled  with  a  desire 
to  exercise  them  in  a  wide  field.  He  had  made  himself  famous  as  a 
striking  preacher,  and  since  his  wife  had  died  in  1837  there  was  nothing 
to  prevent  his  ordination  to  the  Roman  Catholic  priesthood  when  the 
"  Gorham  Judgment  "  moved  him  to  join"  the  Church  of  Rome  in  185'. 
Gorham  was  an  Anglican  clergyman,  whose  teachings  on  baptism,  which 
Manning  considered  at  variance  with  the  English  Prayer-book,  were 
declared  by  the  Privy  Council  to  be  the  teachings  of  the  Church  of 
England. 

In  1865  Manning  crowned  a  ministry  of  incessant  activity  and  devo- 
tion by  succeeding  Cardinal  Wiseman  as  Archbishop  of  Westminster, 
and  five  years  later  rose  up  in  the  Vatican  Council  of  1870  as  one  of  the 
most  ardent  and  uncompromising  supporters  of  Papal  infallibility.  He 
was  made  a  Cardinal  in  1875  and  became  a  most  powerful  advocate  of 
Roman  Catholicism.  He  was,  however,  very  much  more  than  a  mere 
ecclesiastic,  and  by  his  Christian  charity  and  noble  life  he  conciliated 
all  religious  parties  and  won  their  support  in  his  humanitarian  work. 
Manning  belonged,  as  a  great  Englishman,  rather  to  the  whole  nation, 
than  to  any  denomination  in  England,  being  a  broad-minded  philan- 
thropist and  reformer,  whose  zeal  and  abilities  the  Government  recog- 
nized by  making  him,  in  1885,  a  member  of  the  Royal  Commission. 
During  his  later  years  he  was  to  be  found  sitting  side  by  side  with 
laymen  and  ministers  of  all  sorts  of  denominations  on  any  platform 
where  he  could  advocate  the  rights  of  labor  and  the  cause  of  temperance. 
He  died  in  1802,  leaving  many  writings,  including  sermons  and  addresses 
of  commanding  eloquence,  as  well  as  several  polemical  and  controversial 
pamphlets.  His  address  "  On  Progress  "  gives  an  excellent  idea  of  his 
eloquence  and  erudition.  He  was  an  eloquent  and  impressive  preacher, 
a  dogmatic  theologian,  untainted  by  rationalism,  indifferent  to,  and  pre- 
sumably not  well  acquainted  with,  the  school  of  modern  criticism. 


230 


*' 


ON  PROGRESS 

Delivered  before  a  meeting  of  the  Young  Men's  Catholic 
Association,  October  jo,  1871 

WHEN  a  boy,  I  remember  reading  a  book  which  had  a 
great  name  nearly  a  century  ago,  in  which  one  of  the 
chapters  was  headed :  "  Our  hero  talks  of  what  he 
does  not  understand."  I  have  no  doubt  that  I  will  hear  that  I 
am  talking  of  what  I  do  not  understand ;  but  in  my  defence  I 
think  I  may  say,  I  am  about  to  talk  of  what  I  do  not  understand 
for  this  reason :  I  cannot  get  those  who  talk  about  it  to  tell  me 
what  they  mean.  I  know  what  I  mean  by  it,  but  I  am  not  at  all 
sure  that  I  know  what  they  mean  by  it ;  and  those  who  use  the 
same  words  in  different  senses  are  like  men  that  run  up  and 
down  the  two  sides  of  a  hedge,  and  so  can  never  meet.  That 
perhaps  will  happen  to  me  in  talking  about  progress.  I  have 
tried  all  I  can  to  find  out  some  definition  or  description  to  give 
me  an  idea  of  what  is  meant  by  progress.  The  perpetual  repe- 
tition of  the  word  stuns  and  deafens  us  day  by  day.  At  the  feet 
of  newspaper  editors  and  article-writers,  the  great  teachers  of 
the  day — philosophers  and  sophists  are  gone — at  the  feet  of 
these  we  sit,  and  hear  constantly  a  great  deal  about  progress,  of 
which,  if  I  could  understand  it  to  be  something  true  and  good, 
I  should  become  one  of  the  preachers  ;  but  these  apostles  of  the 
nineteenth  century  will  not  tell  us  their  meaning.  They  leave 
us  in  a  state  of  blank  amazement.  I  have  tried  to  find  some  au- 
thorities to  depend  upon,  and  have  found  two — one  the  present 
Prime  Minister  of  England,  who,  in  a  speech  in  Liverpool  four 
years  ago,  says  that  progress  is  what  the  police  say  to  the 
people  on  the  pavement,  "  Move  on !  "  My  other  authority  is 
the  leader  of  Her  Majesty's  Opposition  who,  in  one  of  his  books 
introduces  his  hero  talking  with  a  stranger  from  the  other  side 
of  the  Atlantic,  who  held  very  cheap  our  great  commercial 
towns  with  their  machinery  and  manufactures,  saying  that  they 

231 


232 


CARDINAL   MANNING 


were  nothing  at  all  compared  with  the  States.  At  parting  he 
presents  his  card  to  his  companion,  on  which  was  written,  "  Mr. 
G.  O.  A.  Head."  These  are  the  only  two  authoritative  meanings 
I  can  gather  from  our  two  political  parties  as  to  what  progress 
means.  It  is  talked  of  by  most  people  as  if  it  were  a  Holy  Grail 
of  which  people  are  in  quest.  Some  of  them  spend  their  lives  in 
great  energy  to  promote  progress ;  but  unfortunately  they  ap- 
pear to  me  to  verify  what  St.  Augustin  said  about  men  who 
make  great  speed  after  truth  without  finding  the  right  way  to  it. 
He  said :  "  You  are  making  great  strides,  but  are  out  of  the 
road."  And  when  I  see  people  making  for  progress  in  different 
directions,  we  are  quite  sure  they  cannot  all  be  right.  Some 
people  tell  us  progress  means  liberalism.  It  is  difficult  again 
to  know  what  that  is — and  when  you  do  get  their  definition  of 
it,  it  seems  to  be  the  emancipation  of  the  human  will  from  every 
kind  of  law.  I  do  not  think  that  is  progress,  or  that  it  leads  to  a 
good  result.  Then,  again,  plebiscites,  or  universal  suffrage,  are 
taken  to  be  one  of  the  tokens  of  progress,  and  the  results  of 
plebiscites  do  not  seem  to  me  to  be  the  ultimate  good  of  society — 
at  least  they  are  so  frequently  given  in  different  directions,  and 
one  is  so  speedily  necessary  to  correct  another,  and  build  up 
what  another  throws  down,  that  neither  does  this  seem  to  me 
progress,  unless  progress  means  perpetual  motion,  swaying  to 
and  fro.  Again,  we  are  told  that  material  improvements,  such 
as  gas,  railroads,  and  the  abolition  of  intramural  burials  the 
other  day,  came  among  the  evidences  of  progress  ;  trades  which 
are  what  we  call  roaring  trades ;  steamboats,  races  between 
them,  with  the  steam  shut  in,  and  excited  passengers  stamping 
upon  the  paddle-boxes — this  is  taken  by  some  people  as  evi- 
dence of  progress.  One  thing,  however,  I  see.  In  every  coun- 
try of  Europe  there  is  what  is  called  a  "  party  of  progress," 
but,  unfortunately,  this  party  of  progress  has  a  trail  behind 
it  like  certain  reptiles,  and  that  trail  is  revolution.  We  have 
not,  therefore,  as  yet  arrived  at  a  very  clear  notion  of  progress 
from  the  popular  teachers  of  the  day ;  I  will  therefore  venture 
to  give  my  own  humble  conception  of  what  progress  is. 

I  will  say,  then,  that  progress  with  us  simple  people  means 
the  growth  and  ripening  of  anything  from  its  first  principles 
to  its  perfection.  We  distinguish  between  progress  which  is 
growth,  and  progress  which  is  decay ;  because  decay  is  the  re- 


ON    PROGRESS  233 

verse  of  growth,  and  it  is  a  departure  from  first  principles.  It 
is  the  dissolution  of  perfection ;  and  therefore  we  distinguish 
between  growth  and  decay  as  between  ripeness  and  rottenness 
— and  growth  we  call  progress,  but  decay  we  call  ruin.  Now  I 
want  to  show  what  may  be  classified  under  progress  of  growth, 
and  what  under  decay  or  ruin — that  is  my  subject. 

The  growth  of  an  oak  is  a  very  intelligible  thing.  The  acorn 
planted  in  the  clay  strikes  its  tap-root,  then  rises  into  a  stem, 
and  spreads  into  branches ;  and  in  the  whole  tree  completes  its 
symmetry,  stature,  and  perfection — this  is  an  example  of  prog- 
ress from  a  germ  in  nature.  But  when  that  oak  has  attained 
its  maturity,  and  has  run  through  its  period  of  time,  it  begins  to 
decay,  which  reverses  this  progress.  The  sap  sinks  to  the  root, 
the  leaves  begin  to  fall,  the  sprays  wither,  the  branches  decay 
and  fall  from  the  trunk,  the  rot  in  the  substance  of  the  tree 
gradually  spreads,  the  trunk  becomes  hollow,  and  the  tree  dis- 
appears in  dust :  this  is,  then,  the  reverse  of  progress.  The  same 
is  true  of  every  fruit  we  hold  in  our  hands ;  so  Shakespeare  tells 
us  of  man : 

"  And  so  from  hour  to  hour,  we  ripe  and  ripe ; 
And  then,  from  hour  to  hour,  we  rot  and  rot; 
And  thereby  hangs  a  tale." 

Let  us  apply  this  to  human  things,  and  first  to  an  individual 
man.  The  idea  of  physical  progress  in  man  is  first  of  all  the 
growth  from  childhood  to  manhood,  the  complete  expansion 
and  development  of  the  whole  man  in  stature,  symmetry, 
strength,  and  countenance ;  the  whole  human  being  filling  up 
as  it  were  the  outline  and  type  which  belongs  not  only  to  man 
in  general,  but  to  that  particular  individual — that  is  what  we 
call  progress.  Then  there  is  the  moral  progress  in  every  man ; 
that  is,  the  progress  of  his  character,  which  begins  in  the  self- 
control  of  the  will  and  in  obedience ;  then  in  the  rectitude  of 
conduct ;  and  then  again  in  prudence  and  the  whole  range  of 
duty,  and,  finally,  in  excellence — that  is,  in  surpassing  others 
according  to  the  capacity  of  that  which  is  in  him  by  nature. 
For  men  are  not  all  equal,  they  are  variously  endowed  and  some 
have  capacities  and  qualities  and  energies  far  beyond  others ; 
and  each  individual  has  a  progress  of  his  own,  which  means,  as 
I  said  before,  the  filling  up  of  that  which  is  not  only  due  to  the 


234  CARDINAL   MANNING 

type  of  race  to  which  he  belongs,  but  also  to  his  own  individual 
gifts  and  capacities.  In  like  manner  of  intellectual  progress : 
there  is  a  passive  intellect  in  us  all,  which  first  receives  the  in- 
struction of  teachers,  and  then  becomes  an  active  intellect, 
whereby  we  educate  and  form  ourselves ;  and  then  that  active 
intellect  becomes  reflective,  and  has  a  power  of  research  and  dis- 
covery. The  whole  intellect  of  the  man  is  thus  matured  and 
ripened  according  to  his  capacities  and  circumstances,  and  that 
from  very  small  beginnings. 

For  instance,  it  is  said  in  the  life  of  St.  Gregory  VII,  the  great- 
est ruler  the  world  ever  saw,  the  loftiest  of  all  legislators,  the  just- 
est  of  all  judges,  and  the  most  intrepid  of  all  pontiffs,  who  ruled 
over  the  whole  Christian  world  with  a  sway  which  for  wisdom 
and  fortitude  has  never  been  excelled — it  is  said  that  in  his 
childhood  he  was  kneeling  at  the  feet  of  a  carpenter  who  was 
hewing  wood ;  and  the  chips,  so  traditions  say,  formed  them- 
selves into  the  words  from  the  Book  of  Psalms,  "  He  shall 
reign  from  sea  to  sea."  This  was  taken  as  an  indication  of  his 
future,  which  he  fulfilled  to  the  letter.  The  movement  which 
connected  this  small  beginning  with  his  mighty  end  was  a 
progress  of  the  whole  man,  moral  and  intellectual.  Take  also 
the  example  of  Fergusson,  the  astronomer,  who,  when  a  shep- 
herd's boy,  would  lie  on  his  back,  and  with  a  string  of  beads 
over  his  eye  measure  the  distance  or  intervals  of  the  stars,  and 
then  mark  them  down  with  his  pencil — this  was  the  beginning 
of  his  progress  in  astronomy.  So  again  take  another  instance 
in  the  familiar  anecdote  of  Nelson,  who  was  perhaps  one  of  the 
most  intrepid  and  fearless  of  men.  When  a  boy  in  Norfolk,  he 
left  his  father's  house,  and  was  lost  for  the  whole  day,  not  com- 
ing home  until  after  dark.  His  father  said  he  wondered  fear  did 
not  drive  him  home,  upon  which  the  boy  asked :  "  Who  is 
fear?  I  do  not  know  him."  I  suppose  that  was  the  index  of  his 
genius,  which  progressed  into  the  heroic  fearless  character 
which  is  written  in  history.  That  is  my  notion  of  progress  in 
the  individual  man — a  consistent  growth  of  the  same  principles 
from  first  to  last.  The  next  example  shall  be  the  progress  of  a 
people. 

I  do  not  know  whether  any  of  you  have  read  Carlyle's 
"  Chartism  "  ;  if  so,  you  will  find  me  a  plagiarist,  but  I  shall  only 
take  his  outline,  not  his  words.  He  says  of  the  British  Empire, 


ON   PROGRESS 


235 


there  was  a  time  when  we  were  Druids ;  and  I  recollect  that 
somebody  in  the  House  of  Commons  attacked  Mr.  Pitt  for 
speaking  in  favor  of  the  abolition  of  slavery,  on  the  ground  that 
it  was  useless  to  emancipate  the  negro,  for  he  was  of  a  lower  and 
baser  race  than  the  white  man ;  in  proof  of  which  it  was  said 
that  they  sold  their  children  into  slavery,  sacrificed  human  be- 
ings to  idols,  covered  themselves  with  paint,  and  I  know  not 
what.  Mr.  Pitt  answered  that  such  was  precisely  the  state  of 
our  British  ancestors — they  painted  themselves  with  woad,  sold 
their  children  into  slavery,  and  offered  human  sacrifices  under 
their  oaks.  There  is  no  doubt  there  was  a  time  when  we  were  in 
that  unprogressive  state.  After  that  came  Hengist  and  Horsa, 
in  their  leathern  boats,  upon  the  mud  of  Thanet,  and  springing 
from  them  came  the  seven  kingdoms  of  the  Heptarchy,  which 
are  described  by  Milton  as  "  the  flocking  and  the  fighting  of 
crows  and  kites  " — and  that  was  pretty  nearly  the  history  of  the 
internecine  wars  of  the  seven  Saxon  kingdoms.  After  that 
came  an  agency  which  was  not  of  this  world — St.  Augustin 
breathed  Christianity  into  the  Saxon  race.  Dioceses,  churches, 
and  parishes  were  formed  before  the  tithings,  hundreds,  and 
shires  had  any  existence.  Christianity  began  to  shape  the  com- 
munity, which,  under  Alfred,  gathered  together  in  one  the 
whole  Saxon  people ;  and  from  Alfred  to  St.  Edward  the  Con- 
fessor England  attained  a  state  of  high  Christian  civilization. 
It  is  a  history  full  of  luminous  beauty.  In  those  days  it  is  said 
that  along  the  high-roads  there  were  drinking-fountains.  We 
of  the  nineteenth  century  imagine  our  drinking-fountains  to  be 
the  last  perfection  of  humane  and  civilized  invention,  but  our 
ancestors  had  them  along  their  roads ;  and  it  is  said  that  so 
strong  was  the  reign  of  law  in  that  time  that  a  poor  mother  car- 
rying her  child  might  walk  in  safety  from  the  Humber  to  the 
southern  sea.  Well,  then,  progress  had  been  made  since  the 
Druids.  After  that  came  the  Normans  introducing  the  feudal 
system  of  the  continental  kingdoms,  consolidating  and 
strengthening  the  simpler,  more  primitive,  and,  I  may  say, 
pastoral  government  of  the  Saxon  kings.  England  became  one 
of  the  mightiest  monarchies  of  Europe.  The  three  kingdoms 
were  at  least  united  together  by  the  Norman  conquest  of  Ire- 
land and  Scotland.  This  was  the  first  outline  of  the  British  Em- 
pire. Thus  unity  has  endured  and  confirmed  itself  from  that  day 


236  CARDINAL   MANNING 

to  this.  The  civilization  of  the  Normans  was  far  higher  than 
that  of  the  Saxons.  They  introduced  a  refinement  and  literature 
and  a  higher  grade  of  culture.  This  is  to  be  traced  in  our  lan- 
guage, in  which,  for  the  most  part,  the  simple  terms  describing 
individual  things  are  Saxon,  but  the  more  abstract  terms  which 
describe  kind  and  species  are  from  the  Norman-French.  At 
least  this  rule  may  be  so  extensively  verified  in  English  as  to 
show  that  a  wave  of  a  higher  civilization  passed  over  a  lower 
civilization  and  elevated  it.  After  this,  from  age  to  age,  came 
the  introduction  of  manufactures.  Then  commercial  towns  be- 
gan to  grow :  London,  which  once  was  surrounded  by  a  single 
wall  with  its  one  tower,  has  never  ceased  to  grow  till  it  has 
reached  its  three  millions  of  men  ;  Liverpool  has  exceeded  in  its 
magnificence  the  docks  of  London,  which  were  thought  to  be 
the  wonder  of  the  world ;  Glasgow  sprang  up  suddenly  into 
an  enormous  manufacturing  world,  with  half  a  million  of 
human  beings  ;  and  Manchester,  which  in  the  memory  of  living 
men  was  a  single  parish  with  its  parish  church,  has  half  a  million 
likewise.  I  cannot  omit  to  say,  in  passing,  that  only  the  other 
day  a  good  old  venerable  Catholic  went  to  her  rest  in  Man- 
chester, who  remembered  the  time  when  she  and  her  family 
came  to  Manchester  and  found  there  a  humble  priest  and  eight 
Catholics.  The  immigration  of  her  family  raised  the  Catholics 
of  Manchester  to  seventeen.  One  poor  church,  one  priest,  and 
a  flock  of  seventeen,  was  the  slender  beginning  which  she  lived 
to  see  expanded  to  a  diocese.  It  has  now  a  bishop,  twelve  or 
fourteen  magnificent  churches,  many  priests,  and  one  hundred 
thousand  Catholics.  Well  this  is  an  example  of  progress  which 
I  can  understand. 

In  the  seventeenth  century  Great  Britain  acquired  its  West 
Indian  colonies,  and  in  the  eighteenth  century  it  acquired  the 
East  Indies  and  Canada — it  already  possessed  the  plantations 
of  America.  It  became  therefore  a  colonial  empire.  The  Ameri- 
can plantations  in  the  year  1775,  by  a  happy  law  of  progress, 
began  to  work  out  their  own  independence,  and  became  a  vast 
confederation.  The  North  American  Union,  the  greatest  cre- 
ation of  civilized  life,  perhaps,  in  the  world,  sprang  from  Great 
Britain.  The  English  tongue  has  gone  with  it  throughout  the 
whole  breadth.  The  English  tongue  is  more  widely  spread 
than  anv  language,  and  the  Anglo-Celtic  race  covers  a  wider 


ON    PROGRESS  237 

surface  of  the  earth  than  any  other  tongue  or  people.  It  may  be 
very  well  said,  then,  that  those  leathern  boats,  which  lay  upon 
the  mud  of  Thanet,  brought  over  with  them  a  very  notable  bur- 
den. When  we  look  at  the  colonial  empire  of  Great  Britain, 
with  England  as  its  heart  and  centre,  at  the  United  States  as  its 
offspring  and  sister,  it  is  true  to  say  that  here  has  been  an  ex- 
ample of  true  progress,  and  progress  so  grand,  that  perhaps  in 
the  history  of  the  world  it  cannot  be  exceeded. 

Well,  now  let  me  take  another  example,  that  is,  the  progress 
of  Christianity.  I  will  not  dwell  upon  this,  because  it  is  so 
obvious ;  I  need  only  give  its  outline.  You  remember  the 
prophecy  of  Daniel,  of  a  stone  which  became  a  great  mountain 
and  filled  the  earth ;  and  the  parable  of  our  Lord,  of  the  mus- 
tard-seed which  took  root  and  became  a  great  tree.  Christianity 
has  fulfilled  those  two  prophecies.  If  you  consider  for  a  moment 
what  the  faith  was  when  it  was  received  only  by  the  Jews  who 
believed,  what  it  became  when  it  was  spread  to  the  synagogue — 
the  Jews  who  spoke  the  Greek  language,  and  were  dispersed 
abroad — when  from  them  it  passes  to  the  pure  heathen  of  the 
Roman  Empire ;  how  the  very  word  "  pagan  "  signifies  "  the 
peasantry  "  who  lived  out  in  the  country,  as  distinguished  from 
the  cities  which  first  became  Christian  ;  how  Christianity  spread 
itself  over  the  whole  mass,  like  the  prophet  Eliseus,  who  com- 
municated his  warmth  to  the  body  of  the  dead  child,  and  so 
communicated  the  warmth  of  life  to  the  populations  of  the  world, 
that  they  lived  with  a  new  and  vital  spirit ;  then  how  over  the 
whole  population  the  universal  episcopate  began  to  extend  its 
sway,  and  to  organize  it  into  the  distinct  divisions  and  flocks 
which  constitute  the  dioceses  and  pastoral  cure  of  the  Catholic 
Church ;  then  how  the  faith  and  morality  of  Christianity  began 
to  work  in  domestic  life,  and  how  from  the  homes  and  families 
of  men  spread  into  the  public  life  of  cities,  and  how  gradually 
it  took  possession  of  Rome,  until  the  world  accepted  it,  and  was 
penetrated  through  and  through  with  the  light  of  Christianity ; 
how,  after  that,  the  literature  and  laws,  customs,  and  even  the 
very  warfare  of  the  Christian  world,  was  guided  and  mitigated 
by  the  effects  of  Christianity  ;  how  thenceforward  the  universal 
church  spread  itself,  the  line  of  its  Pontiffs  continuing  unbroken 
as  its  supreme  rulers,  the  line  of  its  councils  legislating  continu- 
ously, from  age  to  age,  for  the  necessities  of  the  world ;  how,  in 


238  CARDINAL   MANNING 

its  office  of  teacher  of  faith  and  judge  of  morals,  the  church  has 
continually  governed  the  Christian  nations  of  the  world,  and  is 
there  still,  standing  imperishable,  immutable,  and  ever  pro- 
gressive, always  extending,  always  maturing  and  perfecting  the 
work  which  it  has  in  hand — there  is  the  most  perfect  example 
of  progress  the  world  has  ever  seen,  or  ever  will  see. 

Now  let  us  take  an  example  or  two  from  the  progress  of 
science.  There  was  a  time  when  science  hardly  existed.  It  be- 
gan by  observation  and  reflection.  A  very  learned  and  good 
man  unhappily  was  lost  to  us  some  years  ago  by  a  fall  from  his 
horse,  and  a  more  lamented  death  among  scholars  these  later 
days  I  have  hardly  known.  I  mean  Whewell,  the  head  of  Trin- 
ity College,  Cambridge.  He  was  a  man  of  powerful,  original, 
mature,  and  just  and  scientific  mind.  He  wrote  two  books 
which  I  dare  say  many  who  hear  me  know.  The  one  on  the 
"  History  of  the  Inductive  Sciences,"  that  is  to  say,  the  pure 
and  applied  sciences,  in  the  true  scientific  sense  of  the  term ; 
not  the  chatter  we  hear  about  social  and  historical  sciences, 
which  can  have  no  existence.  That  book,  in  three  volumes,  I 
believe,  under  correction,  to  be  one  of  the  most  solid  and  pre- 
cious books  of  these  days.  He  wrote  also  two  volumes  on  the 
:'  Philosophy  of  the  Inductive  Sciences,"  being  an  analysis  of 
the  intellectual  processes  of  those  sciences.  Those  two  works 
trace  out  the  progress  of  science  from  its  beginning  along  the 
line  of  its  advance.  For  example,  he  traces  in  astronomy  the 
earliest  observation  of  the  Orientals ;  and  then,  how,  by  grad- 
ual discovery,  the  whole  science  has  been  developed ;  how  its 
periods  of  observation  were  followed  by  periods  of  demonstra- 
tion, and  these  again  by  periods  of  deduction,  so  that  the 
science  was  always  growing  in  conformity  to  its  first  principles, 
as  the  acorn  into  the  oak-tree.  The  intellectual  germ  was  al- 
ways extending  itself.  There  was  a  time  when  this  earth  was 
believed  to  be  the  fixed  centre  of  all  things,  the  sun  revolving 
round  it ;  and  the  solar  system,  as  we  know  it,  was  supposed  to 
be  the  whole  universe.  We  know  now  that  the  sun,  which  is  the 
centre  of  our  system,  together  with  all  its  planets,  and  they,  with 
all  their  satellites  and  comets,  are  going  at  a  speed  which  takes 
our  breath  away  to  hear,  in  the  direction  of  the  star  X  in  the  con- 
stellation of  Hercules.  This  is  true  and  legitimate  progress  in 
science.  Take  another  example.  WheweU  tells  us  of  the  tradi- 


ON    PROGRESS 


239 


tion  that  the  first  idea  of  the  octave  in  music  sprang  up  in  the 
mind  of  a  Greek  by  hearing  the  constant  ring  and  alternation 
of  hammers  beating  on  an  anvil.  From  this  the  idea  of  number, 
rhythm,  and  sound,  with  the  distinction  of  tones,  grew  in  his 
mind,  and  the  basis  of  scientific  music  was  laid.  In  the  history 
of  music  we  read  that  in  proportion  as  instruments  have  been 
perfected  in  compass,  in  that  proportion  has  music  been  per- 
fected. The  organ  on  which  Handel  played  had  I  know  not 
how  much  less  in  compass  than  the  organs  of  the  present  day. 
His  music  therefore  was  limited.  And  the  sphere  and  range  of 
music  has  been  perpetually  increasing  as  instruments  have  been 
perfected  and  their  sphere  enlarged.  This  again  is  an  example 
of  scientific  and  true  progress.  I  might  take  another  example 
in  spectrum  analysis,  or  in  electricity,  with  its  application  to 
telegraphy,  and  many  other  uses,  as  an  instance  of  true  prog- 
ress. 

We  will  now  take  an  example  of  progress  in  political  govern- 
ment. The  first  law  of  political  government  in  the  beginning 
was  club-law ;  and  the  way  in  which  people  made  peace  was  by 
beating  one  another  till  one  party  had  enough  of  it.  Jurists  tell 
us  the  first  fiction  of  civil  law  was  government  by  majority ; 
that  is  to  say,  they  no  longer  counted  the  number  of  clubs  or 
bruises,  but  the  number  of  votes ;  and  the  vote  by  majority  and 
minority  was  taken  as  sufficient  to  settle  any  political  contro- 
versy, which  is  at  least  a  more  comfortable  way  of  settling  a 
contest.  When  this  mode  of  government  sprang  up,  immedi- 
ately there  was  found  something  which  had  the  power  of  tying 
the  hands  of  tyrants,  of  limiting  the  absolutism  of  despotic  gov- 
ernment. There  was  a  time  when  the  first  principle  of  law  was, 
"  Quod  principi  placnit  legis  habct  vigor  em;  "  that  is,  what  the 
prince  wills  has  the  force  of  law ;  so  that  the  will  of  the  prince 
was  the  law  of  the  subject.  Well,  the  introduction  of  this  new 
theory  of  putting  votes  for  clubs  had  a  beneficial  effect  in  Eng- 
land, and  the  dicta  and  axioms  of  our  lawyers,  going  back  to 
Bracton  and  Fleta,  were  recast.  Our  ancestors  said,  "  Lex  facit 
regemy  not  "  Rex  facit  legcm.^  The  law  makes  the  king,  not 
the  king  makes  the  law.  There  came  in  another  idea  of  govern- 
ment, and  that  was  monarchy  limited  by  law ;  both  by  the  un- 
written customs  of  the  people  and  the  written  law  made  legiti- 
mately by  the  king  and  his  councillors.    Well,  from  this  has 


24o  CARDINAL   MANNING 

come  gradually  what  we  call  self-government ;  but  the  govern- 
ment which  is  municipal  and  local  depends  ultimately  upon  the 
government  of  each  individual  man  over  himself ;  and  no  peo- 
ple are  worthy  to  obtain,  or  can  obtain,  self-government,  or  if 
they  had  obtained  could  keep  it,  who  do  not  train  and  discipline 
themselves,  so  that  they  begin  by  governing  themselves  before 
they  govern  their  neighbors.  There  has  been  undoubtedly 
great  progress  in  those  things  also.  One  more  example  I  will 
give,  and  with  that  will  end  this  dreary  part  of  the  subject ;  and 
that  shall  be  progress  in  civilization. 

I  cannot  deny  that  we  are  very  much  better  off  than  when 
our  ancestors  smeared  themselves  with  woad ;  that  our  manu- 
factures, cheapening  good  articles  of  clothing,  are  a  great  bless- 
ing to  everybody,  rich  and  poor.  I  also  think  it  is  much  better  to 
live  on  good  wheaten  bread  than  on  acorns ;  and  if  we  cannot 
grow  enough  wheat  at  home,  it  is  a  good  thing  that  we  are  able 
to  import  it.  Also  I  think  it  is  better  to  live  in  brick  houses  than 
in  huts  of  mud  and  wicker-work;  and  it  is  better  we  should  have 
machinery  which  will  do  ten  thousand  operations  with  great 
fineness  and  power  rather  than  flint  knives  and  burnt  sticks. 
It  seems,  therefore,  that  progress  in  civilization  as  regards  food, 
clothing,  dwellings,  and  machinery,  in  the  mechanical  power  of 
production,  transit  by  railway,  and  the  dynamic  powers  of  ma- 
chinery— that  is,  the  mechanical  powers  applied  to  lift  weights, 
build  houses,  and  transport  of  goods  which  no  human  strength 
could  lift — that  all  this  is  a  vast  progress  in  the  material  order. 
I  may  say  also  that  the  extension  of  the  benefits  of  all  these 
things,  from  the  rich,  or  from  the  classes  that  might  appro- 
priate them  to  their  own  enjoyment,  to  the  whole  mass  of 
the  people,  bringing  them  within  the  reach  of  the  poor  and 
those  standing  in  greatest  need  of  them — that  this  is  a  very 
just  and  legitimate  idea  of  progress.  Next  I  will  say  that  what 
is  called  credit  in  commerce  is  a  notable  progress.  Trading 
in  kind  would  be  very  inconvenient  nowadays,  if,  every  time  you 
had  to  buy  a  hat,  you  had  to  pay  for  it  with  a  table,  or  if  every 
time  you  had  to  purchase,  it  was  necessary  to  put  down  the  cash 
on  the  spot,  you  would  have  to  carry  a  fortune  with  you  ;  and  if 
brass  money  were  the  chief  currency,  that  would  be  still  more 
difficult ;  so  that  the  substitution  of  a  gold  and  silver  currency 
is  a  progress  in  civilization.     But  it  seems  to  me  that  the  intro- 


ON    PROGRESS  241 

duction  of  the  bank-note  is  much  better ;  and  bank-notes  never 
could  have  existed,  if  there  had  not  been  confidence  created 
between  man  and  man,  and  recognized  by  public  and  social 
law,  which  gives  value  and  reality  to  a  piece  of  paper.  Now 
that  would  appear  to  be  the  result  of  modern  civilization,  be- 
cause I  do  not  read  of  it  either  in  Athens  or  Rome.  This  ex- 
ample, entirely  the  creation  of  a  civilized  state,  I  will  not  put 
high,  but  I  think  it  an  improvement,  as  it  facilitates  the  transac- 
tion of  business.  Then,  international  law,  that  is,  the  law 
which  runs  from  nation  to  nation,  an  extension  of  that  domestic 
law  which  governs  a  people  singly,  by  contract  and  mutual  rec- 
ognition, at  last  federates  together  and  binds  a  number  of  na- 
tions in  one  family ;  and  there  arises  what  is  called  by  lawyers 
a  comity  of  nations,  which  means  a  certain  mutually  fair  and 
benevolent  dealing  with  one  another.  Just  as  charity  binds  in- 
dividuals, so  nations  are  bound  by  justice ;  and  this  is  a  distinc- 
tion of  civilization  which  grew  and  advanced  so  long  as  Chris- 
tian civilization  endured. 

I  hope  that  I  have  given  a  sufficient  number  of  examples  of 
progress  in  our  own  country,  in  Christianity,  in  science,  in 
political  government,  and  in  civilization,  to  have  cleared  our- 
selves at  least  from  the  imputation  of  being  opposed  to  prog- 
ress. 

Let  me  sum  up  what  I  have  said  in  the  first  part  of  my  subject 
in  this  way :  It  is  a  philosophical  axiom,  a  certain  truth  of  the 
reason,  that  everything  is  preserved  by  the  same  principles  by 
which  it  is  produced.  The  oak  which  springs  from  the  acorn 
is  preserved  by  the  sap  and  fibre  and  wood  and  bark  which  be- 
long to  its  kind ;  you  cannot  change  that  nature  without  de- 
stroying its  perfection.  This  is  true  physically,  it  is  true  in 
science,  it  is  true  in  moral  character,  as  I  will  go  on  to  show. 
Whenever  anything  grows  from  its  root  by  the  same  principles 
of  development  to  its  perfection,  it  retains  its  own  identity. 
The  oak  is  always  the  oak,  and  Christian  society  is  always  Chris- 
tian society.  Another  axiom  is,  that  destruction  is  the  change 
or  perversion  of  the  principles  by  which  anything  was  pro- 
duced ;  if  you  can  change  or  pervert  the  principles  from  which 
anything  springs,  you  destroy  it.  For  instance,  one  single  for- 
eign element  introduced  into  the  blood  produces  death ;  one 
false  assumption  admitted  into  science  destroys  its  certainty; 
Vol.  II.— 16 


242  CARDINAL   MANNING 

one  false  principle  admitted  into  morals  is  fatal.  As,  for  exam- 
ple, a  portion  of  the  Church  separated  from  the  unity  of  the 
Church,  therefore  separated  from  the  principles  by  which  it 
was  first  created  and  preserved,  becomes  a  schism.  A  state 
which  rejects  its  own  vital  laws,  which  were  founded  upon 
reason,  justice,  and  Christianity,  becomes  an  anomaly.  A  body 
which  has  reached  maturity,  and  loses  the  principle  of  its  ani- 
mation, becomes  dust.  The  first  of  these  axioms  is  what  I  may 
call  the  law  of  progress,  the  second  is  the  law  of  decay.  We  will 
now  consider  the  latter. 

The  last  part  of  my  subject  is  that  which  is  opposed  to  prog- 
ress. Let  me  take  as  an  example  the  formation  of  character. 
I  dare  say  all  of  you  have  seen  many  a  youth  beginning  life  with 
great  promise,  with  piety,  faith,  conscientiousness,  and  so 
growing  to  manhood  ;  yet  there  has  been  about  him  something 
which  a  keen  observer  has  detected,  yet  feared  even  to  think  of, 
lest  he  should  do  wrong.  Just  as  some  magnificent  tree  sud- 
denly snaps  in  the  night,  its  strength  of  stem  overmastered  by 
a  high  wind,  because  at  the  heart  there  was  a  secret  rottenness, 
unseen  without,  yet  it  was  there  within,  and  when  the  pressure 
came  upon  the  branches  the  tree  went  asunder — so  it  is  with 
many  a  character.  There  is  some  false  principle  or  passion, 
something  within,  which,  when  it  is  tried,  fails.  The  piety  of 
boyhood  and  of  youth  becomes  careless,  because  there  is  a  germ 
of  sloth,  and  ends  in  impiety.  Faith  has  near  its  root,  some  se- 
cret germ  of  doubt,  which  begins  to  grow  secretly,  and  at  last 
shows  itself  in  the  form  of  captious  objection,  and  ends  in  un- 
belief. Conscientiousness  begins  to  manifest  a  certain  laxity, 
and  ends  in  acts  of  dishonor.  Here  we  see  what  may  be  called 
a  falling  off  from  the  first  principles  by  which  the  character  was 
formed  in  the  beginning.  Apply  this,  then,  to  the  case  of  na- 
tions. 

Take  the  republic  of  Athens,  which  was  cultivated,  intellec- 
tually, morally,  scientifically,  and  politically,  to  a  very  high  de- 
gree, which  established  a  colonial  empire,  and  I  may  say  a 
dominion  over  the  Greek  race.  It  rose  to  a  very  high  point  of 
civilization.  It  then  became  a  luxurious  and  licentious  democ- 
racy, and  began  at  once  to  decay.  Rome  in  like  manner  had 
what  its  people  called  the  prisca  virtus,  that  old  austerity  of  vir- 
tue, which  carried  the  sway  of  its  republic  over  the  whole  earth. 


ON    PROGRESS  243 

When  it  began  to  be  luxurious  and  corrupt,  an  imperial  tyranny 
was  established  over  it.  Thenceforward  it  went  to  pieces  age 
after  age,  with  the  greatest  havoc  ever  made  on  earth.  Spain 
was  a  noble,  Christian,  and  austere  people,  until  by  successful 
commerce,  and  the  mines  of  the  New  World,  it  was  inundated 
with  gold.  Among  the  causes  of  Spain's  decline,  the  enormous 
influx  of  gold  has  a  chief  place.  It  brought  on  a  relaxation  of 
industry,  a  carelessness  and  luxuriousness  of  life,  a  disposition 
to  live  on  acquired  wealth,  which  paralyzed  the  energy  of  the 
people.  Here,  again,  we  find  the  principles  of  the  nation's 
greatness  discarded,  and  its  greatness  lost.  Take  the  example 
of  the  Christian  world  as  distinct  from  the  Church.  Always  re- 
member, when  we  speak  of  the  Christian  world,  that  the  Chris- 
tian world  and  the  Christian  Church  are  two  different  things. 
The  Christian  Church  existed  before  the  Christian  world,  and 
created  it.  The  Christian  world  may  go  to  pieces,  and  it  seems 
at  this  moment  to  be  on  the  breakers ;  but  the  Church  will  re- 
main in  all  its  vigor  and  plenitude  of  light  and  power  until  its 
Divine  Head  comes  again.  The  Christian  world  is  everywhere 
divided ;  and  because  divided,  it  is  in  perplexity  and  conflict 
everywhere.  We  hear  Christian  men  complaining  and  con- 
tending about  "  the  religious  difficulty."  They  cannot  act  to- 
gether or  educate  their  children  together,  because  of  the  re- 
ligious difficulty.  Do  you  know  what  the  religious  difficulty  is  ? 
It  is  not  the  Catechism,  it  is  not  the  Thirty-nine  Articles — it  is 
God,  the  truth  of  God,  and  the  will  of  God.  Because  some  men 
have  determined  to  interpret  the  truth  of  God  in  their  own 
fashion,  and  to  reject  everything  else,  and  because  others  reject 
God  altogether,  therefore  they  can  find  no  common  basis  upon 
which  to  educate  or  to  legislate,  without  shutting  out  God, 
His  truth  and  will,  from  the  four  corners  of  an  act  of  Parliament. 
Here  we  have  an  example  of  the  abandonment  of  those  princi- 
ples upon  which  the  progress  of  the  Christian  civilization  of  the 
world  was  made. 

Modern  civilization,  then,  is  civilization  without  Christianity. 
It  is  perfect  when  the  religious  difficulty  is  eliminated  and  ex- 
cluded from  the  progress  of  man,  intellectual,  moral,  and  politi- 
cal. Take  for  example  France,  which  has  been  for  eighty  years 
leading  the  way  in  modern  civilization.  A  more  refined  people, 
a  people  more  exquisite  in  the  cultivation  of  the  arts  and 


244  CARDINAL   MANNING 

sciences  of  the  natural  order,  is  not  to  be  found ;  but  a  people 
more  incoherent  in  political  life,  more  wanting  in  the  power  of 
permanent  combination,  more  stricken  as  it  were  with  the  im- 
possibility of  adhering  together  in  any  one  constant  form  of 
civil  government,  can  hardly  be  found  in  history.  That  noble 
people,  full  of  intelligence  and  of  genius,  because  it  has  aban- 
doned the  first  principles  which  formed  the  great  French  mon- 
archy of  a  thousand  years,  and  has  substituted  in  their  place  the 
shallow  theories  that  are  called  the  principles  of  '89,  that  majes- 
tic people  has  reduced  itself  for  a  time  to  an  instability  so  great, 
that  within  the  memory  of  living  men  it  has  had  two  empires, 
three  republics,  three  kings  dethroned,  seventeen  constitutions, 
and  six  or  seven  revolutions.  The  present  state  of  that  noble 
country  is  such,  that  we  may  justly  take  it  as  an  example  of  the 
dissolution  which  follows  upon  the  loss  of  those  first  principles 
from  which  Christian  society  springs,  and  by  which  alone 
Christian  society  can  be  preserved. 

Let  us  now  take  England.  England  in  the  last  three  hundred 
years  has  been  departing  from  those  principles  by  which  its 
progress  was  originally  impelled,  and  by  which  that  progress 
has  been  preserved.  I  will  only  touch  upon  three  points.  Three 
hundred  years  ago  a  legal  Church  was  set  up,  which  covered 
the  whole  country,  and,  excepting  only  the  faithful  Catholics 
who  refused  it,  and  a  handful  of  dissenters,  contained  the  whole 
population  of  England.  At  this  moment  the  population  of  Eng- 
land has  outgrown  that  legal  religion  by  one-half  its  number. 
Next  there  was  a  political  constitution  of  Church  and  State  set 
up  at  that  day  which  spread  itself  over  the  whole  Anglican 
population.  The  population  has  outgrown  the  constitution ; 
and,  therefore,  some  twenty  or  thirty  years  ago  we  were  per- 
petually hearing  about  Chartism,  and  now  in  these  days  we  are 
hearing  of  trades-unions,  political  unions,  strikes  among  trades 
— the  masses  of  the  people  uniting  together  to  accomplish,  by 
combination  against  capital,  that  which  the  law  of  the  land 
ought  to  do  for  them.  Lastly,  the  effect  of  these  and  other 
causes  is  that  one-half  of  the  people  of  England  have  outgrown 
Christianity,  they  have  passed  beyond  the  moral  restraints  of 
Christianity,  they  have  become  materialized.  They  are  not 
atheists,  not  infidels.  It  is  not  by  the  act  of  their  own  will ;  it  is 
the  pressure,  and  I  may  say  the  tyranny,  of  events  or  the  logic 


ON   PROGRESS 


245 


of  facts,  of  which  we  hear  so  much,  that  has  robbed  them  of 
their  inheritances  of  faith  and  culture.  And  this  because  the  first 
principles  of  Christian  civilization,  which  created  the  mature 
commonwealth  of  England,  were  violated  three  hundred  years 
ago. 

I  was  going  to  take  next  the  example  of  the  United  States, 
but  I  will  not  venture  upon  any  judgment  of  its  state.  In  talk- 
ing of  England  I  am  always  willing  to  give  hard  knocks. 
Englishmen  like  it.  They  give  us  the  privileges  of  sons  and 
brothers ;  and  we  may  say  what  we  like  about  England,  if  we 
say  it  filially — I  trust  I  never  do  otherwise.  But  of  the 
New  World  I  do  not  venture  so  freely  to  speak.  I  trust  that  in 
the  United  States  good  care  will  be  taken  of  the  faith,  I  mean  of 
Christianity,  of  Christian  education,  of  morals,  of  domestic  life, 
and  of  strong-minded  women — a  race  now  rising  among  our- 
selves, and,  with  all  good-will  towards  them,  I  hope  they  will 
be  benignly  kept  in  order.  I  hope  that  in  the  United  States 
there  will  be  great  care  taken  to  exclude  political  ambition  and 
faction.  About  fifteen  years  ago  I  read  what  I  believe  to  be  an 
authentic  statement — that  a  number  of  leading  politicians  and 
statesmen  of  America,  of  highest  name  and  note,  met  together 
to  consider  the  condition  of  the  United  States.  It  was  before 
the  war,  when  there  were  already  many  causes  of  anxiety.  It 
was  said  that  there  was  a  universal  and  growing  license  of  the 
individual  will,  and  that  law  and  government  were  powerless 
to  restrain  it ;  that  if  the  will  of  the  multitude  became  licentious, 
it  would  seriously  threaten  the  public  welfare  and  liberty  of  the 
country.  The  conclusion  they  came  to  was,  that  unless  there 
could  be  found  some  power  which  could  restrain  the  individual 
will,  this  danger  would  at  last  seriously  menace  the  United 
States.  Now  I  think  we  are  all  ready  to  say  what  that  power  is. 
It  is  the  power  which  created  the  Christian  society  of  the  world. 
Whensoever  it  is  weakened  or  lost,  immediately  all  political 
society  decays.  I  hope  it  may  be  restored  and  long  retained  in 
the  American  Union.  I  hope  too  that  the  prophecy  of  Bishop 
Berkeley  may  be  abundantly  fulfilled  in  America : 

"  Westward  the  course  of  empire  takes  its  way, 
The  first  four  acts  already  past; 
A  fifth  shall  close  the  drama  with  the  day: 
Time's  noblest  offspring  is  the  last." 


246  CARDINAL   MANNING 

I  hope  there  is  a  future  for  America  which  will  verify  this 
prophecy ;  but  I  am  confident  it  cannot  be,  unless  those  first 
principles  of  Christian  civilization  which  have  created  and 
maintained  the  progress  of  the  Christian  world  shall  be  restored 
and  preserved. 

Now  I  shall  be  asked  what  those  principles  are ;  and  I  will 
enunciate  them  as  quickly  as  I  can.  First,  they  are  the  laws  of 
God  in  nature  and  revelation.  They  are  the  laws  of  God  in 
nature ;  that  is,  the  reason  rightly  cultivated,  the  conscience 
rightly  directed ;  the  four  cardinal  virtues,  prudence,  justice, 
fortitude,  and  temperance ;  the  law,  that  is,  recognition  of  a 
rule  and  duty  of  obedience  to  the  law.  The  idea  of  law  is  the 
foundation  of  all  civil  society,  and  the  rule  of  the  conscience 
and  conduct  of  men.  Second,  the  principles  of  God's  law  in 
Revelation,  the  Ten  Commandments,  a  very  old  code,  and  very 
much  forgotten ;  the  twelve  articles  of  the  Creed,  very  much 
disliked  by  those  who  talk  of  the  religious  difficulty ;  the  unity 
of  the  Christian  Church,  and  its  authority.  Thirdly,  the  law  of 
man  made  by  rulers  and  legislatures  when  conformable  to  those 
of  God.  And  so  long  as  legislatures  and  governments  con- 
form themselves  and  their  laws  to  the  law  of  God,  then  there 
is  progress.  I  utterly  deny  there  is  progress  when  they  depart 
from  it. 

What,  then,  are  the  principles  that  convert  progress  to  de- 
cay? The  violation  of  God's  laws,  their  perversion,  and  their 
privation  or  loss.  I  had  put  down  a  number  of  examples,  but  I 
have  looked  at  my  watch,  and  see  I  must  not  go  on.  Therefore 
I  can  only  give  one  single  example,  which  is  the  most  fresh 
and  vivid  at  this  moment. 

We  have  heard  a  great  deal  of  the  Munich  Conference  ;  well, 
now,  this  revolt  is  nothing  new.  Another,  precisely  the  same, 
happened  at  the  beginning  of  this  century.  In  the  year  1801,  on 
the  fifteenth  of  August,  Pope  Pius  VII  issued  an  apostolic  let- 
ter, whereby,  by  the  supreme  authority  of  the  Vicar  of  Jesus 
Christ,  he  extinguished  the  whole  existing  episcopate  in  France, 
subdivided  anew  all  the  dioceses,  and  thus  created  a  new  hier- 
archy over  the  whole  of  the  country.  At  once,  a  certain  number 
of  men,  in  whom  the  Gallican  spirit  was  strong — I  have  no 
doubt  many  were  conscientious  and  good  men,  but  they  had 
admitted  one  false  principle,  which,  as  I  said,  like  one  little 


ON    PROGRESS  247 

globule  of  foreign  matter  in  the  blood  is  fatal — absolutely  re- 
fused obedience,  separated  themselves  from  the  Catholic 
Church  and  set  up  what  was  called  the  Petite  Eglise.  This  little 
Church  consisted  of  a  considerable  number  of  bishops,  priests 
and  laity.  The  last  bishop  of  the  Petite  Eglise  submitted  himself 
to  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  year  1829,  and  died  in  peace.  But 
this  separation  is  not  extinct.  In  the  year  1865,  when  I  was  at 
Poictiers,  the  bishop  told  me  that  he  had  some  five  thousand  of 
the  members  of  this  little  Church  in  his  diocese,  who  had  no 
priests,  no  sacraments,  no  churches  ;  nevertheless,  that  they 
baptized  their  own  children,  and  met,  from  time  to  time,  to  say 
prayers  and  the  rosary  together.  They  are  dying  out.  Yet  they 
began  with  a  number  of  bishops ;  but  they  had  no  succession, 
and  they  are  now  ceasing  to  exist. 

What  is  now  happening  at  Munich  ?  The  Holy  Father,  in  the 
Vatican  Council,  issued  last  year  the  constitution  Pastor 
Mternus,  whereby  the  infallibility  of  the  Head  of  the  Church 
was  defined.  The  "  Times  "  newspaper  says  all  the  bishops  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church  have  accepted  it,  "  having  been 
fairly  caught  and  safely  landed  in  the  great  Vatican  net."  Well, 
this  was  too  much  for  the  professors  of  Germany.  They  are  an 
estate  in  the  intellectual  realm  of  Germany,  and  the  conse- 
quence has  been  what  you  may  read  in  the  newspapers.  Some 
five  hundred  men  from  all  countries  have  met  together.  The 
names  of  the  chief  leaders  from  foreign  countries  have  been 
mentioned  in  the  papers,  except  only  the  English  deputies. 
Who  deputed  them?  Whom  did  they  represent?  I  wish  the 
names  had  been  published,  as  we  should  know  more  easily  how 
to  deal  with  them.  As  it  is,  I  can  only  say  that  every  man  who 
has  participated  in  that  Munich  Congress  is  either  directly,  ex- 
plicitly, or  implicitly  excommunicated  and  incapable  of  sacra- 
ments. However,  this  Congress  did  a  great  many  things. 
It  has  resolved  to  begin  a  system  of  parishes  and  public 
worship  with  priests,  the  greater  part  of  whom  have  been 
suspended,  and  are  incapable  of  officiating  in  the  Catholic 
Church.  It  is  a  curious  thing  that  the  Petite  Eglise  of  whom 
I  spoke  at  first  commenced  their  schism  upon  the  rejection  of 
the  plenitude  of  the  supreme  authority  of  the  Head  of  the 
Church  in  matter  of  jurisdiction  and  discipline.  These  Munich 
separatists  are  committing  schism  by  rejecting  the  plenitude 


248  CARDINAL   MANNING 

of  the  doctrinal  authority  of  the  Head  of  the  Church  in  matter 
of  faith.  That  is  to  say,  these  two  schisms  are  made  precisely 
on  the  same  ground:  the  plenitude  of  the  primacy  in  jurisdic- 
tion and  doctrinal  authority;  with  what  result,  time  is  to  show. 
In  the  mean  while  we  have  the  authority  of  the  "  Times  "  news- 
paper for  saying  that  the  great  difficulty  with  them  is,  that, 
though  they  have  some  laymen  and  some  priests,  they  have  no 
bishop. 

;<  Here,"  says  the  "  Times,"  "  are  five  hundred  professors, 
priests,  and  laymen,  founding  and  constituting  a  Church — old, 
say  they ;  new,  says  Rome — and,  as  it  were  at  the  last  moment, 
they  find  they  must  have  bishops  to  keep  it  going.  They  will 
beg,  borrow,  or  steal  one.  Are  not  bishops  to  be  found  some- 
where? We,  nevertheless,  are  sure  that  not  even  an  English 
'  colonial,'  not  even  a  suffragan,  not  even  a  Scottish  bishop, 
without  clergy,  churches,  or  people,  would  hire  himself  out  to 
keep  up  the  breed  of  old  Catholics  at  Munich." 

The  broad  English  common-sense  of  the  "  Times  "  has  saved 
it.  It  goes  on  to  say :  "  The  last  words  in  the  description  which 
our  correspondent,  who  was  present,  gives  of  the  last  public 
meeting  have,  we  suspect,  a  prophetic  import.  The  assemblage 
was  vast  for  Catholic  Munich  ;  the  city  was  much  stirred  up  by 
the  strangeness  of  the  event ;  but  when  all  was  over  the  im- 
pression left  on  the  public  was  '  that  much  more  remained  to  be 
done.'  All  Englishmen  must  feel  that.  It  is  a  common  thing  to 
find  men  who  retain  the  shell,  as  it  were,  of  old  conviction  ;  who 
live  by  old  habits  and  use  the  words  they  did  in  their  youth ; 
but  whose  inner  nature,  indeed,  whose  leading  principles,  are 
bursting  these  bonds.  The  programme  before  us  we  venture  to 
pronounce  utterly  inconsistent  in  spirit  with  the  conservative 
part  of  its  doctrinal  propositions." 

Here  is  good  sense.  Further  on,  the  "  Times,"  with  the  ac- 
curacy of  a  Catholic  theologian,  speaking  of  the  Munich  Con- 
gress, continues :  '  It  retains  the  decrees  of  the  Council  of 
Trent,  including  all  former  councils,  but  reopens — and,  in- 
deed, compels  the  reopening  of — every  controversy  which  that 
council  was  summoned  to  close.  '  A  dogma,'  it  says,  '  to  be 
valid,  must  be  in  accordance  with  Holy  Writ  and  the  old  tradi- 
tions of  the  Church,  such  as  they  have  been  conveyed  to  us  in 
the  writings  of  the  recognized  fathers  and  the  decrees  of  the 


ON    PROGRESS  249 

councils.'  Then,  having  said  this,  it  proceeds  to  point  out  that 
even  were  a  council  really  ecumenical,  it  would  be  powerless 
against  essential  truth  and  history ;  nay,  that  no  unanimity 
could  confer  validity  on  its  decrees.  The  congress,  some  here 
will  think,  avows  an  intention  to  look  still  further  ahead.  It  sets 
out  boldly  on  the  road  of  science  and  progressive  Christian 
culture ;  it  insists  that  the  clergy  shall  be  theologians,  and  also 
admitted  freely  to  the  culture  of  the  century.  This  must  all 
mean  something,  and  most  people  will  understand  it  better  than 
the  dogmatic  portion  of  the  programme.  Which  of  the  two  con- 
flicting portions  will  survive  the  other  on  German  soil  is  a  ques- 
tion on  which  our  English  readers  will  not  be  long  in  making 
up  their  minds." 

I  must  pass  over  much  more  that  I  had  meant  to  say,  and 
sum  up  in  these  words :  We  do  not  oppose  any  true  material, 
scientific,  social,  or  political  progress.  The  reiterated  and  per- 
sistent way  in  which  people  say  we  are  opposed  to  progress  is 
cant.  They  who  can  believe  it  to  be  so  are  superstitious — they 
ought  to  believe  in  hobgoblins ;  and  perhaps  they  do.  Well, 
then,  my  general  conclusion  is.  that  the  Church  is  progressing 
and  always  will  progress,  in  strength,  truth,  unity  of  faith,  in  the 
self-evidence  by  which  it  proves  itself  to  the  world.  Secondly, 
that  nations  are  departing  from  the  principles  which  created 
their  civilization.  Thirdly,  that  civilization  is  becoming  every 
day  more  and  more  material.  I  shall  keep  you  till  midnight 
if  I  go  on.  Look  for  proof  of  what  I  sav  in  any  work  on  political 
economy ;  or  in  the  production  and  use  of  wealth,  its  enjoyment ; 
luxury,  and  the  consequences  of  luxury,  visible  all  around  us. 
Fourthly,  that  this  material  civilization,  while  more  and  more 
material,  is  becoming  less  and  less  moral.  Fifthly,  that  there- 
fore this  modern  civilization  is  for  this  reason  not  progres- 
sive, because  the  nations  are  not  growing  happier,  nor  purer 
in  their  morals,  nor  more  united  in  the  charities  of  life. 
Sixthly,  that  society  is  not  becoming  more  solid,  more  safe, 
more  stable :  that,  on  the  contrary,  the  reverse  of  all  these 
things  is  undubitably  true  and  visible  before  our  eyes.  Sev- 
enthly, that  individuals  are  becoming  more  anarchical,  the  in- 
tellect more  licentious,  the  wills  of  man  more  stubborn ;  and 
this  self-will  expresses  itself  in  their  actions,  so  that  it  is  true  to 
say  that  the  principles  upon  which  the  Christian  world  was 


250 


CARDINAL   MANNING 


founded,  and  by  which  it  has  hitherto  been  preserved,  have  been 
rejected  and  are  being  violated  on  every  side.  The  Christian 
world  therefore  is  not  progressing,  but  is  going  back.  Finally, 
civilization  like  everything  else  cannot  stand  still :  non  progredi 
est  regredi;  not  to  go  onward  is  to  go  backward ;  and  therefore 
it  is  that  the  Holy  Father,  when  he  condemned  in  the  syllabus 
the  proposition,  "that  the  Roman  Pontiff  can  and  ought  to 
reconcile  and  adjust  himself  to  progress,  liberalism,  and  modern 
civilization,"  condemned  a  great  error,  and  proclaimed  a  great 
truth.  There  is  no  hope  for  either  man  or  society,  but  to  go 
back  to  the  feet  of  the  only  true  legislator,  who  said,  "  Come 
unto  Me :  take  My  yoke  upon  you ;  for  My  yoke  is  easy  and 
My  burden  is  light." 


CHOICE    EXAMPLES    OF    EARLY    PRINTING    AND 

ENGRAVING. 

Fac-similes  from  Rare  and  Curious  Books. 


PAGE   FROM  A    BOOK  OF  HOURS. 

This  page  is  noticeable  for  its  ornamentation,  which  is  of  consummate  grace  and 
variety  in  design.  The  great  mediaeval  doctrine  of  the  Sacrament  is  the  subject  of 
the  miniature  ;  we  see  a  chalice  ngels,  under  a  canopy,  wli 

tains   two  angels  hold  apart.      Th  up  is   formed   to  represent  the 

wound  in  the  side  of  Christ,  from  wl  dripping.     Round  the  border  is  one 

of  those  hunting  .   mediaeval  artists  loved  to  introduce  even  in  a  re- 

ligious composition.     This  mixture  of  thi  1  and  profane  was  characterisi 

the  period,  and  when  it  took  the  foi  ludicrous  and  the  horrible 

il  was  called  the  gi  ,  a  style  of  art  originating  in   the  i  enturies  between  the 

destruction  of  the  Roman  Empire  and  the  Renaissance.     This  book  is  one  of  those 
issued  by  Simon  Vostre  at  Paris  about  Myy. 


£netiictia  Jjei  pafrfe  cun)  an$e  tie  fuie  fit  fupet 
tiicSnig      cnebicriotej«ypir0flMj$efi6fui6 
f7f  fup  me.ft'm?£%nrtRrtio  ficJcfetnarie  cfl  ftft'o  fao  fit 
fupfiie.afii?    tnehictio  fctfeccfefteetcttrrfrtfttpme 
time-  »oH)(rfia«t8iifaHcrotnnie6to^n.gjcimnti6| 
n5  timfflo  tiiafa  qfft  tu  tnecii  e»    *nj}  (t  ftatnBafatM*  It4iy 
rotijmrtiofriPufartonie'BjtnfrfaBwmert:  fupfca  w*r- 
tmcoximj  meowti?  c^fen&tftt  wmntm?  tua  rt  fa&iil  me  j 
fecit  Oejrtetaftia. 


^rquiftit  officiutn^c^cp^one  6eate  marie 
Sirginie* 


ON    DOMESTIC    AND    FOREIGN 
AFFAIRS 

THE    ESTABLISHED    CHURCH    IN 

IRELAND 


BY 


WILLIAM    EVVART    GLADSTONE 


WILLIAM    EWART   GLADSTONE 
1809— 1898 

William  Ewart  Gladstone  happened  to  be  born  in  Liverpool ;  but  he 
was  a  Scot  on  both  sides  of  his  ancestry ;  and  his  father  came  of  an 
ancient  line  of  Gledstanes  (Hawk-stones)  who  had  figured  with  dignity 
and  credit  in  Scottish  history  for  generations.  Born  in  1809,  he  lived 
all  but  ninety  years,  retaining  to  the  last  the  unimpaired  use  of  his  mind, 
and  to  the  last  interested  in  all  that  pertained  to  the  welfare  and  honor 
of  his  country.  Though  he  had  retired  from  active  political  life  four 
or  five  years  before  his  death,  no  one  could  act  in  the  government  with- 
out explicit  or  implied  reference  to  him ;  and  his  opponents  were  never 
free  from  the  apprehension  that,  if  a  crisis  demanded  it,  the  Grand  Old 
Man  would  once  more  take  the  helm.  Often  invited  to  enter  the  peerage, 
he  steadfastly  and  wisely  declined,  and  remained  to  the  end  the  Great 
Commoner — a  title  which  he  shared  with  the  only  other  English  states- 
man who  could  stand  comparison  with  him — Lord  Chatham  previous 
to  1766.  That  he  made  many  errors  in  the  course  of  his  long  life  was 
inevitable ;  though  many  of  them  were  due  less  to  his  will  than  to  the 
tyranny  of  circumstance ;  but  the  longer  he  lived  the  more  firmly  did 
the  mass  of  the  people  pin  their  faith  to  him ;  and  the  worthier  of  their 
trust  did  he  prove  himself. 

It  was  in  1832,  when  twenty-three  years  of  age,  that  he  took  his  seat 
for  the  first  time  in  Parliament;  and  with  the  exception  of  eighteen 
months,  he  sat  there  till  his  retirement  from  public  life  in  1894.  Most 
of  this  time  he  represented  the  boroughs  of  Greenwich  and  Midlothian. 
But  his  first  constituency  was  Newark,  a  "  pocket-borough  "  of  the  Duke 
of  Newcastle,  a  Tory.  When  Sir  Robert  Peel  came  into  power  in  1834, 
Gladstone  was  appointed  a  Lord  of  the  Treasury,  and  then  Under  Sec- 
retary of  the  Colonies.  In  1841  he  became  Vice-President  of  the  Board 
of  Trade,  and  made  a  reputation  by  his  handling  of  the  scheme  of 
tariff  revision.  Two  years  later  he  took  his  place  in  the  Cabinet,  but 
resigned  in  1845  for  reasons  of  political  consistency.  Between  this  time 
and  1852  Gladstone's  views  underwent  a  progressive  change;  and  as 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  in  the  coalition  ministry  of  Aberdeen,  he 
appeared  under  Liberal  colors.  Lord  Palmerston  and  Lord  Russell  both 
continued  him  in  the  Exchequer;  and  when  Palmerston  died,  in  1865, 
Gladstone  became  leader  of  the  House  of  Commons.  The  Tories  de- 
feated his  reform  bill,  and  "  dished  the  Whigs  "  by  bringing  in  one  of 
their  own ;  but  in  1868  he  was  chosen  Prime  Minister,  and  so  remained 
till  1874.  Nor  was  he  content  to  fill  this  august  office  only ;  he  com- 
bined with  it  those  of  First  Lord  of  the  Treasury,  Chancellor  of  the 
Exchequer,  and  Lord  Privy  Seal.  The  more  he  labored  for  the  public 
weal,  the  more  strength  and  ability  to  work  did  he  seem  to  evince.  The 
disestablishment  of  the  Irish  Church  was  one  of  the  earliest  measures 
which,  as  Prime  Minister,  he  introduced  and  advocated ;  and  from  that 
time  the  condition  of  Ireland  was  one  of  his  leading  preoccupations. 

Gladstone's  oratory  was  always  remarkable,  even  from  the  first;  but 
it  constantly  improved  as  he  advanced  in  age  and  experience,  and  his 
knowledge  of  men  and  affairs  broadened  and  deepened.  The  almost 
savage  earnestness  with  which  he  dealt  with  questions  of  moment  never 
left  him ;  but  he  gradually  relieved  it  by  a  sunny  and  sympathetic  treat- 
ment of  the  body  of  his  subject,  by  touches  or  humor  and  wit,  and  by 
the  extraordinary  perspicacity  and  ease  with  which  he  handled  matters 
which,  till  then,  had  been  thought  unsusceptible  of  any  but  formal  and 
tedious  treatment.  This  was  especially  conspicuous  in  his  speeches 
on  finance.  "  Domestic  and  Foreign  Affairs  "  and  "  The  Established 
Church  in  Ireland  "  are  typical  examples  of  his  Parliamentary  speeches. 

252 


ON   DOMESTIC  AND   FOREIGN   AFFAIRS 

Delivered  at  West  Colder,  November  2j,  1879 

MR.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen  :  In  addressing  you  to- 
day, as  in  addressing  like  audiences  assembled  for  a 
like  purpose  in  other  places  of  the  county,  I  am 
warmed  by  the  enthusiastic  welcome  which  you  have  been 
pleased  in  every  quarter  and  in  every  form  to  accord  to  me.  I 
am,  on  the  other  hand,  daunted  when  I  recollect,  first  of  all, 
what  large  demands  I  have  to  make  on  your  patience ;  and 
secondly,  how  inadequate  are  my  powers,  and  how  inadequate 
almost  any  amount  of  time  you  can  grant  me,  to  set  forth  worth- 
ily the  whole  of  the  case  which  ought  to  be  laid  before  you  in 
connection  with  the  coming  election. 

To-day,  gentlemen,  as  I  know  that  many  among  you  are  in- 
terested in  the  land,  and  as  I  feel  that  what  is  termed  "  agricul- 
tural distress  "  is  at  the  present  moment  a  topic  too  serious  to 
be  omitted  from  our  consideration,  I  shall  say  some  words 
upon  the  subject  of  that  agricultural  distress,  and  particularly, 
because  in  connection  with  it  there  have  arisen  in  some  quar- 
ters of  the  country  proposals,  which  have  received  a  countenance 
far  beyond  their  deserts,  to  reverse  or  to  compromise  the  work 
which  it  took  us  one  whole  generation  to  achieve,  and  to  revert 
to  the  mischievous,  obstructive,  and  impoverishing  system  of 
protection.  Gentlemen,  I  speak  of  agricultural  distress  as  a 
matter  now  undoubtedly  serious.  Let  none  of  us  withold  our 
sympathy  from  the  farmer,  the  cultivator  of  the  soil,  in  the 
struggle  he  has  to  undergo.  His  struggle  is  a  struggle  of 
competition  with  the  United  States.  But  I  do  not  fully  ex- 
plain the  case  when  I  say  the  United  States.  It  is  not  with  the 
entire  United  States,  it  is  with  the  western  portion  of  these 
States — that  portion  remote  from  the  sea-board ;  and  I  wish 
in  the  first  place,  gentlemen,  to  state  to  you  all  a  fact  of  very 

253 


254  GLADSTONE 

great  interest  and  importance,  as  it  seems  to  me,  relating  to 
and  defining  the  point  at  which  the  competition  of  the  western 
States  of  America  is  most  severely  felt.  I  have  in  my  hand  a 
letter  received  recently  from  one  well  known,  and  honorably 
known,  in  Scotland — Mr.  Lyon  Playfair,  who  has  recently  been 
a  traveller  in  the  United  States,  and  who,  as  you  well  know,  is 
as  well  qualified  as  any  man  upon  earth  for  accurate  and  careful 
investigation.  The  point,  gentlemen,  at  which  the  competition 
of  the  western  States  of  America  is  most  severely  felt  is  in  the 
eastern  States  of  America.  Whatever  be  agricultural  distress 
in  Scotland,  whatever  it  be,  where  undoubtedly  it  is  more  felt, 
in  England,  it  is  greater  by  much  in  the  eastern  States  of 
America.  In  the  States  of  New  England  the  soil  has  been  to 
some  extent  exhausted  by  careless  methods  of  agriculture,  and 
these,  gentlemen,  are  the  greatest  of  all  the  enemies  with  which 
the  farmer  has  to  contend. 

But  the  foundation  of  the  statement  I  make,  that  the  eastern 
States  of  America  are  those  that  most  feel  the  competition  of 
the  West,  is  to  be  found  in  facts — in  this  fact  above  all,  that  not 
only  they  are  not  in  America,  as  we  are  here,  talking  about  the 
shortness  of  the  annual  returns,  and  in  some  places  having  much 
said  on  the  subject  of  rents,  and  of  temporary  remission  or  of 
permanent  reduction.  That  is  not  the  state  of  things ;  they 
have  actually  got  to  this  point,  that  the  capital  values  of  land, 
as  tested  by  sales  in  the  market,  have  undergone  an  enormous 
diminution.  Now  I  will  tell  you  something  that  actually  hap- 
pened, on  the  authority  of  my  friend  Mr.  Playfair.  I  will  tell 
you  something  that  has  happened  in  one  of  the  New  England 
States — not,  recollect,  in  a  desert  or  a  remote  country — in  an 
old  cultivated  country,  and  near  one  of  the  towns  of  these 
States,  a  town  that  has  the  honorable  name  of  Wellesley. 

Mr.  Playfair  tells  me  this :  Three  weeks  ago — that  is  to  say, 
about  the  first  of  this  month,  so  you  will  see  my  information  is 
tolerably  recent — three  weeks  ago  a  friend  of  Mr.  Playfair 
bought  a  farm  near  Wellesley  for  $33  an  acre,  for  £6  12s.  an 
acre — agricultural  land,  remember,  in  an  old  settled  country. 
That  is  the  present  condition  of  agricultural  property  in  the  old 
States  of  New  England.  I  think  by  the  simple  recital  of  that 
fact  I  have  tolerably  well  established  my  case,  for  you  have  not 
come  in  England,  and  you  have  not  come  in  Scotland,  to  the 


ON   DOMESTIC   AND   FOREIGN    AFFAIRS  255 

point  at  which  agricultural  land  is  to  be  had — not  wild  land, 
but  improved  and  old  cultivated  land— is  to  be  had  for  the  price 
of  £6  12s.  an  acre.  He  mentions  that  this  is  by  no  means  a 
strange  case,  an  isolated  case,  that  it  fairly  represented  the  aver- 
age transactions  that  have  been  going  on ;  and  he  says  that  in 
that  region  the  ordinary  price  of  agricultural  land  at  the  pres- 
ent time  is  from  $20  to  $50  an  acre,  or  from  £4  to  £10.  In  New 
York  the  soil  is  better,  and  the  population  is  greater ;  but  even 
in  the  State  of  New  York  land  ranges  for  agricultural  purposes 
from  $50  to  $100,  that  is  to  say,  from  £10  to  £20  an  acre. 

I  think  those  of  you,  gentlemen,  who  are  farmers  will  per- 
haps derive  some  comfort  from  perceiving  that  if  the  pressure 
here  is  heavy  the  pressure  elsewhere  and  the  pressure  nearer  to 
the  seat  of  this  very  abundant  production  is  greater  and  far 
greater  still. 

It  is  most  interesting  to  consider,  however,  what  this  pressure 
is.  There  has  been  developed  in  the  astonishing  progressive 
power  of  the  United  States — there  has  been  developed  a  faculty 
of  producing  corn  for  the  subsistence  of  man,  with  a  rapidity 
and  to  an  extent  unknown  in  the  experience  of  mankind.  There 
is  nothing  like  it  in  history.  Do  not  let  us  conceal,  gentlemen, 
from  ourselves  the  fact ;  I  shall  not  stand  the  worse  with  any  of 
you  who  are  farmers  if  I  at  once  avow  that  this  greater  and 
comparatively  immense  abundance  of  the  prime  article  of  sub- 
sistence for  mankind  is  a  great  blessing  vouchsafed  by  Provi- 
dence to  mankind.  In  part  I  believe  that  the  cheapness  has  been 
increased  by  special  causes.  The  lands  from  which  the  great 
abundance  of  American  wheat  comes  are  very  thinly  peopled  as 
yet.  They  will  become  more  thickly  peopled,  and  as  they  become 
more  thickly  peopled  a  larger  proportion  of  their  produce  will 
be  wanted  for  home  consumption  and  less  of  it  will  come  to  you, 
and  at  a  higher  price.  Again,  if  we  are  rightly  informed,  the 
price  of  American  wheat  has  been  unnaturally  reduced  by  the 
extraordinary  depression,  in  recent  times,  of  trade  in  America, 
and  especially  of  the  mineral  trades,  upon  which  many  railroads 
are  dependent  in  America,  and  with  which  these  railroads  are 
connected  in  America  in  a  degree  and  manner  that  in  this  coun- 
try we  know  but  little  of.  With  a  revival  of  trade  in  America 
it  is  to  be  expected  that  the  freights  of  corn  will  increase,  and  all 
other  freights,  because  the  employment  of  the  railroads  will  be 


256  GLADSTONE 

a  great  deal  more  abundant,  and  they  will  not  be  content  to 
carry  corn  at  nominal  rates.  In  some  respects,  therefore,  you 
may  expect  a  mitigation  of  the  pressure,  but  in  other  respects 
it  is  likely  to  continue. 

Nay,  the  Prime  Minister  is  reported  as  having  not  long  ago 
said — and  he  ought  to  have  the  best  information  on  this  sub- 
ject, nor  am  I  going  to  impeach  in  the  main  what  he  stated — he 
gave  it  to  be  understood  that  there  was  about  to  be  a  develop- 
ment of  corn  production  in  Canada  which  would  entirely  throw 
into  the  shade  this  corn  production  in  the  United  States.  Well, 
that  certainly  was  very  cold  comfort,  as  far  as  the  British  agri- 
culturist is  concerned,  because  he  did  not  say — he  could  not 
say — that  the  corn  production  of  the  United  States  was  to  fall 
off,  but  there  was  to  be  added  an  enormous  corn  production  from 
Manitoba,  the  great  province  which  forms  now  a  part  of  the 
Canada  Dominion.  There  is  no  doubt,  I  believe,  that  it  is  a  cor- 
rect expectation  that  vast  or  very  large  quantities  of  corn  will 
proceed  from  that  province,  and  therefore  we  have  to  look 
forward  to  a  state  of  things  in  which,  for  a  considerable  time 
to  come,  large  quantities  of  wheat  will  be  forthcoming  from 
America,  probably  larger  quantities,  and  perhaps  frequently  at 
lower  prices  than  those  at  which  the  corn-producing  and  corn- 
exporting  districts  of  Europe  have  commonly  been  able  to  sup- 
ply us.  Now  that  I  believe  to  be,  gentlemen,  upon  the  whole, 
not  an  unfair  representation  of  the  state  of  things. 

How  are  you  to  meet  that  state  of  things?  What  are  your 
fair  claims?  I  will  tell  you.  In  my  opinion  your  fair  claims 
are,  in  the  main,  two.  One  is  to  be  allowed  to  purchase  every 
article  that  you  require  in  the  cheapest  market,  and  have  no 
needless  burden  laid  upon  anything  that  comes  to  you  and  can 
assist  you  in  the  cultivation  of  your  land.  But  that  claim 
has  been  conceded  and  fulfilled. 

I  do  not  know  whether  there  is  an  object,  an  instrument,  a 
tool  of  any  kind,  an  auxiliary  of  any  kind,  that  you  want  for  the 
business  of  the  farmer,  which  you  do  not  buy  at  this  moment 
in  the  cheapest  market.  But  beyond  that,  you  want  to  be 
relieved  from  every  unjust  and  unnecessary  legislative  restraint. 
I  say  every  unnecessary  legislative  restraint,  because  taxation, 
gentlemen,  is  unfortunately  a  restraint  upon  us  all,  but  we  can- 
not say  that  it  is  always  unnecessary,  and  we  cannot  say  that 


ON   DOMESTIC   AND   FOREIGN    AFFAIRS  257 

it  is  always  unjust.  Yesterday  I  ventured  to  state — and  I  will 
therefore  not  now  return  to  the  subject — a  number  of  matters 
connected  with  the  state  of  legislation  in  which  it  appears  to  me 
to  be  of  vital  importance,  both  to  the  agricultural  interest  and 
to  the  entire  community,  that  the  occupiers  and  cultivators  of 
the  land  of  this  country  should  be  relieved  from  restraints  under 
the  operation  of  which  they  now  suffer  considerably.  Beyond 
those  two  great  heads,  gentlemen,  what  you  have  to  look  to,  I 
believe,  is  your  own  energy,  your  own  energy  of  thought  and  ac- 
tion, and  your  care  not  to  undertake  to  pay  rents  greater  than, 
in  reasonable  calculation,  you  think  you  can  afford.  I  am  by 
no  means  sure,  though  I  speak  subject  to  the  correction  of  higher 
authority — I  am  by  no  means  sure  that  in  Scotland  within  the 
last  fifteen  or  twenty  years  something  of  a  speculative  character 
has  not  entered  into  rents,  and  particularly,  perhaps,  into  the 
rents  of  hill  farms.  I  remember  hearing  of  the  augmentations 
which  were  taking  place,  I  believe,  all  over  Scotland — I  verified 
the  fact  in  a  number  of  counties — about  twelve  or  fourteen  years 
ago,  in  the  rents  of  hill  farms,  which  I  confess  impressed  me 
with  the  idea  that  the  high  prices  that  were  then  ruling,  and 
ruling  increasingly  from  year  to  year,  for  meat  and  wool,  were 
perhaps  for  once  leading  the  wary  and  shrewd  Scottish  agricul- 
turist a  little  beyond  the  mark  in  the  rents  he  undertook  to  pay. 
But  it  is  not  this  only  which  may  press.  It  is,  more  broadly, 
in  a  serious  and  manful  struggle  that  you  are  engaged,  in  which 
you  will  have  to  exert  yourselves  to  the  uttermost,  in  which  you 
will  have  a  right  to  claim  everything  that  the  legislature  can  do 
for  you ;  and  I  hope  it  may  perhaps  possibly  be  my  privilege 
and  honor  to  assist  in  procuring  for  you  some  of  those  provi- 
sions of  necessary  liberation  from  restraint ;  but  beyond  that, 
it  is  your  own  energies,  of  thought  and  action,  to  which  you  will 
have  to  trust. 

Now,  gentlemen,  having  said  thus  much,  my  next  duty  is  to 
warn  you  against  quack  remedies,  against  delusive  remedies, 
against  the  quack  remedies  that  there  are  plenty  of  people 
found  to  propose,  not  so  much  in  Scotland  as  in  England ;  for, 
gentlemen,  from  Mid-Lothian  at  present  we  are  speaking  to 
England  as  well  as  to  Scotland.  Let  me  give  a  friendly  warning 
from  this  northern  quarter  to  the  agriculturist  of  England  not 
to  be  deluded  by  those  who  call  themselves  his  friends  in  a 
Vol.  II.— 17 


258  GLADSTONE 

degree  of  special  and  superior  excellence,  and  who  have  been 
too  much  given  to  delude  him  in  other  times ;  not  to  be  deluded 
into  hoping  relief  from  sources  from  which  it  can  never  come. 
Now,  gentlemen,  there  are  three  of  these  remedies.  The  first 
of  them,  gentlemen,  I  will  not  call  a  quack  remedy  at  all,  but 
I  will  speak  of  it  notwithstanding  in  the  tone  of  rational  and 
dispassionate  discussion.  I  am  not  now  so  much  upon  the 
controversial  portion  of  the  land  question — a  field  which, 
Heaven  knows,  is  wide  enough — as  I  am  upon  matters  of  deep 
and  universal  interest  to  us  in  our  economic  and  social  condi- 
tion. There  are  some  gentlemen,  and  there  are  persons  for 
whom  I  for  one  have  very  great  respect,  who  think  that  the 
difficulties  of  our  agriculture  may  be  got  over  by  a  fundamental 
change  in  the  land-holding  system  of  this  country. 

I  do  not  mean,  now  pray  observe,  a  change  as  to  the  law  of 
entail  and  settlement,  and  all  those  restraints  which,  I  hope, 
were  tolerably  well  disposed  of  yesterday  at  Dalkeith;  but  I 
mean  those  who  think  that  if  you  can  cut  up  the  land,  or  a  large 
part  of  it,  into  a  multitude  of  small  properties,  that  of  itself  will 
solve  the  difficulty,  and  start  everybody  on  a  career  of  prosperity. 

Now,  gentlemen,  to  a  proposal  of  that  kind,  I,  for  one,  am  not 
going  to  object  upon  the  ground  that  it  would  be  inconsistent 
with  the  privileges  of  landed  proprietors.  In  my  opinion,  if 
it  is  known  to  be  for  the  welfare  of  the  community  at  larger 
the  legislature  is  perfectly  entitled  to  buy  out  the  landed  pro- 
prietors. It  is  not  intended  probably  to  confiscate  the  property 
of  a  landed  proprietor  more  than  the  property  of  any  other  man  ; 
but  the  state  is  perfectly  entitled,  if  it  please,  to  buy  out  the 
landed  proprietors  as  it  may  think  fit,  for  the  purpose  of  divid- 
ing the  property  into  small  lots.  I  don't  wish  to  recommend 
it,  because  I  will  show  you  the  doubts  that  to  my  mind  hang 
about  that  proposal ;  but  I  admit  that  in  principle  no  objection 
can  be  taken.  Those  persons  who  possess  large  portions  of  the 
spaces  of  the  earth  are  not  altogether  in  the  same  position  as 
the  possessors  of  mere  personalty  ;  that  personalty  does  not  im- 
pose the  same  limitations  upon  the  action  and  industry  of  man, 
and  upon  the  well-being  of  the  community,  as  does  the  posses- 
sion of  land ;  and,  therefore,  I  freely  own  that  compulsory 
expropriation  is  a  thing  which  for  an  adequate  public  object  is 
in  itself  admissible  and  so  far  sound  in  principle. 


ON   DOMESTIC   AND   FOREIGN    AFFAIRS  259 

Now,  gentlemen,  this  idea  about  small  proprietors,  however, 
is  one  which  very  large  bodies  and  parties  in  this  country  treat 
with  the  utmost  contempt ;  and  they  are  accustomed  to  point 
to  France,  and  say :  "  Look  at  France."  In  France  you  have 
got  5,000,000 — I  am  not  quite  sure  whether  it  is  5,000,000  or 
even  more ;  I  do  not  wish  to  be  beyond  the  mark  in  anything — 
you  have  5,000,000  of  small  proprietors,  and  you  do  not  pro- 
duce in  France  as  many  bushels  of  wheat  per  acre  as  you  do  in 
England.  Well,  now  I  am  going  to  point  out  to  you  a  very 
remarkable  fact  with  regard  to  the  condition  of  France.  I  will 
not  say  that  France  produces — for  I  believe  it  does  not  produce 
— as  many  bushels  of  wheat  per  acre  as  England  does,  but  I 
should  like  to  know  whether  the  wheat  of  France  is  produced 
mainly  upon  the  small  properties  of  France.  I  believe  that 
the  wheat  of  France  is  produced  mainly  upon  the  large  prop- 
erties of  France,  and  I  have  not  any  doubt  that  the  large 
properties  of  England  are,  upon  the  whole,  better  cultivated, 
and  more  capital  is  put  into  the  land  than  in  the  large  prop- 
erties of  France.  But  it  is  fair  that  justice  should  be  done  to 
what  is  called  the  peasant  proprietary.  Peasant  proprietary 
is  an  excellent  thing,  if  it  can  be  had,  in  many  points  of  view. 
It  interests  an  enormous  number  of  the  people  in  the  soil  of 
the  country,  and  in  the  stability  of  its  institutions  and  its  laws. 
But  now  look  at  the  effect  that  it  has  upon  the  progressive 
value  of  the  land — and  I  am  going  to  give  you  a  very  few 
figures  which  I  will  endeavor  to  relieve  from  all  complication, 
lest  I  should  unnecessarily  weary  you.  But  what  will  you  think 
when  I  tell  you  that  the  agricultural  value  of  France — the  tax- 
able income  derived  from  the  land,  and  therefore  the  income  of 
the  proprietors  of  that  land — has  advanced  during  our  lifetime 
far  more  rapidly  than  that  of  England  ?  When  I  say  England 
I  believe  the  same  thing  is  applicable  to  Scotland,  certainly  to 
Ireland ;  but  I  shall  take  England  for  my  test,  because  the  dif- 
ference between  England  and  Scotland,  though  great,  does  not 
touch  the  principle ;  and,  because  it  so  happens  that  we  have 
some  means  of  illustration  from  former  times  for  England, 
which  are  not  equally  applicable  for  all  the  three  kingdoms. 

Here  is  the  state  of  the  case.  I  will  not  go  back  any  further 
than  1851.  I  might  go  back  much  further:  it  would  only 
strengthen  my  case.     But  for  1851  I  have  a  statement  made  by 


26o  GLADSTONE 

French  official  authority  of  the  agricultural  income  of  France, 
as  well  as  the  income  of  other  real  property,  viz.,  houses.  In 
185 1  the  agricultural  income  of  France  was  £76,000,000.  It 
was  greater  in  185 1  than  the  whole  income  from  land  and  houses 
together  had  been  in  1821.  This  is  a  tolerable  evidence  of  prog- 
ress ;  but  I  will  not  enter  into  the  detail  of  it,  because  I  have  no 
means  of  dividing  the  two — the  house  income  and  the  land  in- 
come— for  the  earlier  year,  namely,  182 1.  In  185 1  it  was  £76,- 
000,000 — the  agricultural  income ;  and  in  1864  it  had  risen  from 
£76,000,000  to  £106,000,000.  That  is  to  say,  in  the  space  of 
thirteen  years  the  increase  of  agricultural  values  in  France — an- 
nual values — was  no  less  than  forty  per  cent.,  or  three  per  cent, 
per  annum.  Now,  I  go  to  England.  Wishing  to  be  quite  ac- 
curate, I  shall  limit  myself  to  that  with  respect  to  which  we 
have  positive  figures.  In  England  the  agricultural  income  in 
1813-14  was  £37,000,000;  in  1842  it  was  £42,000,000,  and  that 
year  is  the  one  I  will  take  as  my  starting-point.  I  have  given 
you  the  years  1851  to  1864  in  France.  T  could  only  give  you 
those  thirteen  years  with  a  certainty  that  I  was  not  misleading 
you,  and  I  believe  I  have  kept  within  the  mark.  I  believe  I 
might  have  put  my  case  more  strongly  for  France. 

In  1842,  then,  the  agricultural  income  of  England  was  £42,- 
000,000;  in  1876  it  was  £52,000,000 — that  is  to  say,  while  the 
agricultural  income  of  France  increased  forty  per  cent,  in  thir- 
teen years,  the  agricultural  income  of  England  increased  twenty 
per  cent,  in  thirty-four  years.  The  increase  in  France  was  three 
per  cent,  per  annum ;  the  increase  in  England  was  about  one- 
half  or  three-fifths  per  cent,  per  annum.  Now,  gentlemen,  I 
wish  this  justice  to  be  done  to  a  system  where  peasant  proprie- 
tary prevails.  It  is  of  great  importance.  And  will  you  allow 
me,  you  who  are  Scotch  agriculturists,  to  assure  you  that  I 
speak  to  you  not  only  with  the  respect  which  is  due  from  a 
candidate  to  a  constituency,  but  with  the  deference  which  is  due 
from  a  man  knowing  very  little  of  agricultural  matters  to  those 
who  know  a  great  deal?  And  there  is  one  point  at  which 
the  considerations  that  I  have  been  opening  up,  and  this  rapid 
increase  of  the  value  of  the  soil  in  France,  bear  upon  our  discus- 
sions. Let  me  try  to  to  explain  it.  I  believe  myself  that  the 
operation  of  economic  laws  is  what  in  the  main  dictates  the  dis- 
tribution of  landed  property  in  this  country.     I  doubt  if  those 


ON   DOMESTIC   AND    FOREIGN    AFFAIRS  261 

economic  laws  will  allow  it  to  remain  cut  up  into  a  multitude  of 
small  properties  like  the  small  properties  of  France.  As  to 
small  holdings,  I  am  one  of  those  who  attach  the  utmost  value 
to  them.  I  say  that  in  the  Lothians — I  say  that  in  the  portion 
of  the  country  where  almost  beyond  any  other  large  holdings 
prevail — in  some  parts  of  which  large  holdings  exclusively  are 
to  be  found — I  attach  the  utmost  value  to  them.  But  it  is  not 
on  that  point  I  am  going  to  dwell,  for  we  have  no  time  for  what 
is  unnecessary.  What  I  do  wish  very  respectfully  to  submit  to 
you,  gentlemen,  is  this.  When  you  see  this  vast  increase  of  the 
agricultural  value  of  France,  you  know  at  once  it  is  perfectly 
certain  that  it  has  not  been  upon  the  large  properties  of  France, 
which,  if  anything,  are  inferior  in  cultivation  to  the  large  prop- 
erties of  England.  It  has  been  upon  those  very  peasant-prop- 
erties which  some  people  are  so  ready  to  decry.  What  do  the 
peasant-properties  mean?  They  mean  what,  in  France,  is 
called  the  small  cultivation — that  is  to  say,  cultivation  of  su- 
perior articles,  pursued  upon  a  small  scale — cultivation  of  flow- 
ers, cultivation  of  trees  and  shrubs,  cultivation  of  fruits  of  every 
kind,  and  all  that,  in  fact,  which  rises  above  the  ordinary  char- 
acter of  farming  produce,  and  rather  approaches  the  produce  of 
the  gardener. 

Gentlemen,  I  cannot  help  having  this  belief,  that,  among 
other  means  of  meeting  the  difficulties  in  which  we  may  be 
placed,  our  destiny  is  that  a  great  deal  more  attention  will  have 
to  be  given  than  heretofore  by  the  agriculturalists  of  England, 
and  perhaps  even  by  the  agriculturalists  of  Scotland,  to  the  pro- 
duction of  fruits,  of  vegetables,  of  flowers,  of  all  that  variety  of 
objects  which  are  sure  to  find  a  market  in  a  rich  and  wealthy 
country  like  this,  but  which  have  hitherto  been  consigned  al- 
most exclusively  to  garden  production.  You  know  that  in 
Scotland,  in  Aberdeenshire — and  I  am  told  also  in  Perthshire — 
a  great  example  of  this  kind  has  been  set  in  the  cultivation  of 
strawberries — the  cultivation  of  strawberries  is  carried  on  over 
hundreds  of  acres  at  once.  I  am  ashamed,  gentlemen,  to  go 
further  into  this  matter,  as  if  T  was  attempting  to  instruct  you. 
I  am  sure  you  will  take  my  hint  as  a  respectful  hint — I  am  sure 
you  will  take  it  as  a  friendly  hint.  I  do  not  believe  that  the 
large  properties  of  this  country,  generally  or  universally,  can  or 
will  be  broken  up  into  small  ones.     I  do  not  believe  that  the 


262  GLADSTONE 

land  of  this  country  will  be  owned,  as  a  general  rule,  by  those 
who  cultivate  it.  I  believe  we  shall  continue  to  have,  as  we 
have  had,  a  class  of  landlords  and  a  class  of  cultivators,  but  I 
most  earnestly  desire  to  see — not  only  to  see  the  relations  of 
those  classes  to  one  another  harmonious  and  sound,  their  in- 
terests never  brought  into  conflict ;  but  I  desire  to  see  both 
flourishing  and  prospering,  and  the  soil  of  my  country  pro- 
ducing, as  far  as  may  be,  under  the  influence  of  capital  and 
skill,  every  variety  of  product  which  may  give  an  abundant 
livelihood  to  those  who  live  upon  it.  I  say,  therefore,  gentle- 
men, and  I  say  it  with  all  respect,  I  hope  for  a  good  deal  from 
the  small  culture,  the  culture  in  use  among  the  small  proprie- 
tors of  France ;  but  I  do  not  look  to  a  fundamental  change  in 
the  distribution  of  landed  property  in  this  country  as  a  remedy 
for  agricultural  distress. 

But  I  go  on  to  another  remedy  which  is  proposed,  and  I  do  it 
with  a  great  deal  less  of  respect ;  nay,  I  now  come  to  the  re- 
gion of  what  I  have  presumed  to  call  quack  remedies.  There 
is  a  quack  remedy  which  is  called  reciprocity,  and  this  quack 
remedy  is  under  the  special  protection  of  quack  doctors,  and 
among  the  quack  doctors,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  there  appear  to 
be  some  in  very  high  station  indeed ;  and  if  I  am  rightly  in- 
formed, no  less  a  person  than  Her  Majesty's  Secretary  of  State 
for  Foreign  Affairs  has  been  moving  about  the  country,  and  in- 
dicating a  very  considerable  expectation  that  possibly  by  reci- 
procity agricultural  distress  will  be  relieved.  Let  me  test,  gen- 
tlemen, the  efficacy  of  this  quack  remedy  for  your,  in  some 
places,  agricultural  pressure,  and  generally  distress — the  press- 
ure that  has  been  upon  you,  the  struggle  in  which  you  are  en- 
gaged. Pray  watch  its  operation  ;  pray  note  what  is  said  by  the 
advocates  of  reciprocity.  They  always  say,  We  are  the  sound- 
est and  best  free-traders.  We  recommend  reciprocity  because 
it  is  the  truly  effectual  method  of  bringing  about  free  trade.  At 
present  America  imposes  enormous  duties  upon  our  cotton 
goods  and  upon  our  iron  goods.  Put  reciprocity  into  play 
and  America  will  become  a  free-trading  country.  Very  well, 
gentlemen,  how  would  that  operate  upon  you  agriculturists  in 
particular?  Why,  it  would  operate  thus:  If  your  condition  is 
to  be  regretted  in  certain  particulars,  and  capable  of  amend- 
ment, I  beg  you  to  cast  an  eye  of  sympathy  upon  the  condi- 


ON    DOMESTIC   AND   FOREIGN    AFFAIRS 


263 


tion  of  the  American  agriculturist.  It  has  been  very  well  said, 
and  very  truly  said — though  it  is  a  smart  antithesis — the 
American  agriculturist  has  got  to  buy  everything  that  he  wants 
at  prices  which  are  fixed  in  Washington  by  the  legislation  of 
America,  but  he  has  got  to  sell  everything  that  he  produces  at 
prices  which  are  fixed  in  Liverpool — fixed  by  the  free  compe- 
tition of  the  world.  How  would  you  like  that,  gentlemen — to 
have  protective  prices  to  pay  for  everything  that  you  use — for 
your  manures,  for  your  animals,  for  your  implements,  for  all 
your  farming  stock,  and  at  the  same  time  to  have  to  sell  what 
you  produce  in  the  free  and  open  market  of  the  world  ?  But 
bring  reciprocity  into  play,  and  then,  if  reciprocity  doctors  are 
right,  the  Americans  will  remove  all  their  protective  duties, 
and  the  American  farmer,  instead  of  producing,  as  he  does 
now,  under  the  disadvantage,  and  the  heavy  disadvantage,  of 
having  to  pay  protective  prices  for  everything  that  constitutes 
his  farming  stock,  will  have  all  his  tools,  and  implements,  and 
manures,  and  everything  else  purchased  in  the  free,  open  mar- 
ket of  the  world  at  free-trade  prices.  So  he  will  be  able  to  pro- 
duce his  corn  to  compete  with  you  even  cheaper  than  he  does 
now.  So  much  for  reciprocity  considered  as  a  cure  for  distress. 
I  am  not  going  to  consider  it  now  in  any  other  point  of  view. 

But,  gentlemen,  there  are  another  set  of  men  who  are  bolder 
still,  and  who  are  not  for  reciprocity  ;  who  are  not  content  with 
that  milder  form  of  quackery  ;  but  who  recommend  a  reversion, 
pure  and  simple,  to  what  I  may  fairly  call,  I  think,  the  exploded 
doctrine  of  protection.  And  upon  this,  gentlemen,  I  think  it 
necessary,  if  you  will  allow  me,  to  say  to  you  a  few  words,  be- 
cause it  is  a  very  serious  matter,  and  it  is  all  the  more  serious 
because  of  Her  Majesty's  Government — I  do  not  scruple  to  say 
— are  coquetting  with  this  subject  in  a  way  which  is  not  right. 
They  are  tampering  with  it ;  they  are  playing  with  it.  A  pro- 
tective speech  was  made  in  the  House  of  Commons  in  a  debate 
last  year  by  Mr.  Chaplin,  on  the  part  of  what  is  called  "  the  agri- 
cultural interest."  Mr.  Chaplin  did  not  use  the  word  pro- 
tection, but  what  he  did  say  was  this :  He  said  he  demanded 
that  the  malt  tax  should  be  abolished,  and  the  revenue  supplied 
by  a  tax  upon  foreign  barley  or  some  other  foreign  commodity. 
Well,  if  he  has  a  measure  of  that  kind  in  his  pocket  I  don't  ask 
him  to  affix  the  word  protection  to  it.     I  can  do  that  for  myself. 


264  GLADSTONE 

Not  a  word  of  rebuke,  gentlemen,  was  uttered  to  the  doctrines 
of  Mr.  Chaplin.  He  was  complimented  upon  the  ability  of  his 
speech  and  the  well-chosen  terms  of  his  motion.  Some  of  the 
members  of  Her  Majesty's  Government — the  minor  members 
of  Her  Majesty's  Government — the  humbler  luminaries  of  that 
great  constellation — have  been  going  about  the  country  and 
telling  their  farming  constituents  that  they  think  the  time  has 
come  when  a  return  to  protection  might  very  wisely  be  tried. 
But,  gentlemen,  what  delusions  have  been  practised  upon  the 
unfortunate  British  farmer !  When  we  go  back  for  twenty 
years,  what  is  now  called  the  Tory  party  was  never  heard  of  as 
the  Tory  party.  It  was  always  heard  of  as  the  party  of  protec- 
tion. As  long  as  the  chiefs  of  the  protective  party  were  not  in 
office,  as  long  as  they  were  irresponsible,  they  recommended 
themselves  to  the  good-will  of  the  farmer  as  protectionists,  and 
said  they  would  set  him  up  and  put  his  interests  on  a  firm  foun- 
dation through  protection.  We  brought  them  into  office  in  the 
year  1852.  I  gave  with  pleasure  a  vote  that  assisted  to  bring 
them  into  office.  I  thought  bringing  them  into  office  was  the 
only  way  of  putting  their  professions  to  the  test.  They  came 
into  office,  and  before  they  had  been  six  months  in  office  they 
had  thrown  protection  to  the  winds.  And  that  is  the  way  in 
which  the  British  farmer's  expectations  are  treated  by  those 
who  claim  for  themselves  in  the  special  sense  the  designation 
of  his  friends. 

It  is  exactly  the  same  with  the  malt  tax.  Gentlemen,  what 
is  done  with  the  malt  tax  ?  The  malt  tax  is  held  by  them  to  be  a 
great  grievance  on  the  British  farmer.  Whenever  a  Liberal 
government  is  in  office,  from  time  to  time  they  have  a  great 
muster  from  all  parts  of  the  country  to  vote  for  the  abolition 
of  the  malt  tax.  But  when  a  Tory  government  comes  into  of- 
fice, the  abolition  of  the  malt  tax  is  totally  forgotten  ;  and  we 
have  now  had  six  years  of  a  Tory  government  without  a  word 
said,  as  far  as  I  can  recollect — and  my  friend  in  the  chair  could 
correct  me  if  I  were  wrong — without  a  motion  made,  or  a  vote 
taken,  on  the  subject  of  the  malt  tax.  The  malt  tax,  great 
and  important  as  it  is,  is  small  in  reference  to  protection.  Gen- 
tlemen, it  is  a  very  serious  matter  indeed  if  we  ought  to  go 
back  to  protection,  because  how  did  we  come  out  of  protection 
to  free  trade?     We  came  out  of  it  by  a  struggle  which  in  its 


ON    DOMESTIC   AND    FOREIGN    AFFAIRS 


265 


crisis  threatened  to  convulse  the  country,  which  occupied  Par- 
liaments, upon  which  elections  turned,  which  took  up  twenty 
years  of  our  legislative  life,  which  broke  up  parties.  In  a 
word,  it  effected  a  change  so  serious  that  if,  after  the  manner 
in  which  we  effected  that  change,  it  be  right  that  we  should 
go  back  upon  our  steps,  then  all  I  can  say  is,  that  we  must 
lose  that  which  has  ever  been  one  of  the  most  honorable  distinc- 
tions of  British  legislation  in  the  general  estimation  of  the 
world — that  British  legislation,  if  it  moves  slowly,  always  moves 
in  one  direction — that  we  never  go  back  upon  our  steps. 

But  are  we  such  children  that,  after  spending  twenty  years — ■ 
as  I  may  say  from  1840  to  i860 — in  breaking  down  the  huge 
fabric  of  protection,  in  1879  we  are  seriously  to  set  about  build- 
ing it  up  again?  If  that  be  right,  gentlemen,  let  it  be  done, 
but  it  will  involve  on  our  part  a  most  humiliating  confession. 
In  my  opinion  it  is  not  right.  Protection,  however,  let  me 
point  out,  now  is  asked  for  in  two  forms,  and  I  am  next  going 
to  quote  Lord  Beaconsfield  for  the  purpose  of  expressing  my 
concurrence  with  him. 

Mostly,  I  am  bound  to  say,  as  far  as  my  knowledge  goes, 
protection  has  not  been  asked  for  by  the  agricultural  interest, 
certainly  not  by  the  farmers  of  Scotland. 

It  has  been  asked  for  by  certain  injudicious  cliques  and 
classes  of  persons  connected  with  other  industries — connected 
with  some  manufacturing  industries.  They  want  to  have  du- 
ties laid  upon  manufactures. 

But  here  Lord  Beaconsfield  said — and  I  cordially  agree 
with  him — that  he  would  be  no  party  to  the  institution  of  a  sys- 
tem in  which  protection  was  to  be  given  to  manufactures,  and 
to  be  refused  to  agriculture. 

That  one-sided  protection  I  deem  to  be  totally  intolerable, 
and  I  reject  it  even  at  the  threshold  as  unworthy  of  a  word  of 
examination  or  discussion. 

But  let  us  go  on  to  two-sided  protection,  and  see  whether 
that  is  any  better — that  is  to  say,  protection  in  the  shape  of 
duties  on  manufactures,  and  protection  in  the  shape  of  duties 
upon  corn,  duties  upon  meat,  duties  upon  butter  and  cheese 
and  eggs,  and  everything  that  can  be  produced  from  the  land. 
Now,  gentlemen,  in  order  to  see  whether  xvp  can  here  find  a 
remedy  for  our  difficulties,  I  prefer  to  speculation  and  mere  ab- 


266  GLADSTONE 

stract  argument  the  method  of  reverting  to  experience.  Ex- 
perience will  give  us  very  distinct  lessons  upon  this  matter. 
We  have  the  power,  gentlemen,  of  going  back  to  the  time  when 
protection  was  in  full  and  unchecked  force,  and  of  examining 
the  effect  which  it  produced  upon  the  wealth  of  the  country. 
How,  will  you  say,  do  I  mean  to  test  that  wealth  ?  I  mean  to 
test  that  wealth  by  the  exports  of  the  country,  and  I  will  tell  you 
why,  because  your  prosperity  depends  upon  the  wealth  of  your 
customers — that  is  to  say,  upon  their  capacity  to  buy  what 
you  produce.  And  who  are  your  customers?  Your  custom- 
ers are  the  industrial  population  of  the  country,  who  produce 
what  we  export  and  send  all  over  the  world.  Consequently, 
when  exports  increase,  your  customers  are  doing  a  large  busi- 
ness, are  growing  wealthy,  are  putting  money  in  their  pockets, 
and  are  able  to  take  that  money  out  of  their  pockets  in  order 
to  fill  their  stomachs  with  what  you  produce.  When,  on  the 
contrary,  exports  do  not  increase,  your  customers  are  poor, 
your  prices  go  down,  as  you  have  felt  within  the  last  few 
years,  in  the  price  of  meat,  for  example,  and  in  other  things, 
and  your  condition  is  proportionally  depressed.  Now,  gen- 
tlemen, down  to  the  year  1842  no  profane  hand  had  been  laid 
upon  the  august  fabric  of  protection.  For  recollect  that  the 
farmers'  friends  always  told  us  that  it  was  a  very  august  fabric, 
and  that  if  you  pulled  it  down  it  would  involve  the  ruin  of  the 
country.  That,  you  remember,  was  the  commonplace  of  every 
Tory  speech  delivered  from  a  country  hustings  to  a  farming  con- 
stituency. But  before  1842  another  agency  had  come  into 
force,  which  gave  new  life  in  a  very  considerable  degree  to  the 
industry  of  the  country,  and  that  was  the  agency  of  railways, 
of  improved  communication,  which  shortened  distance  and 
cheapened  transit,  and  effected  in  that  way  an  enormous  eco- 
nomical gain  and  addition  to  the  wealth  of  the  country.  There- 
fore, in  order  to  see  what  we  owe  to  our  friend  protection,  I 
won't  altow  that  friend  to  take  credit  for  what  was  done  by  rail- 
ways in  improving  the  wealth  of  the  country.  I  will  go  to  the 
time  when  I  may  say  there  were  virtually  no  railways — that 
is  the  time  before  1830.  Now,  gentlemen,  here  are  the  official 
facts  which  I  shall  lay  before  you  in  the  simplest  form,  and,  re- 
member, using  round  numbers.  I  do  that  because,  although 
round  numbers  cannot  be  absolutely  accurate,  they  are  easy 


ON   DOMESTIC   AND   FOREIGN   AFFAIRS  267 

for  the  memory  to  take  in,  and  they  involve  no  material  error, 
no  falsification  of  the  case.  In  the  year  1800,  gentlemen,  the 
exports  of  British  produce  were  thirty-nine  and  a  half  millions 
sterling  in  value.  The  population  at  that  time — no,  I  won't 
speak  of  the  exact  figure  of  the  population,  because  I  have  not 
got  it  for  the  three  kingdoms.  In  the  years  1826  to  1830 — 
that  is,  after  a  medium  period  of  eight-and-twenty  years — the 
average  of  our  exports  for  those  five  years,  which  had  been 
thirty-nine  and  a  half  millions  in  1800,  was  thirty-seven  millions. 
It  is  fair  to  admit  that  in  1800  the  currency  was  somewhat  less 
sound,  and  therefore  I  am  quite  willing  to  admit  that  the  thirty- 
seven  millions  probably  meant  as  much  in  value  as  the  thirty- 
nine  and  a  half  millions  ;  but  substantially,  gentlemen,  the  trade 
of  the  country  was  stationary,  practically  stationary,  under  pro- 
tection. The  condition  of  the  people  grew,  if  possible,  rather 
worse  than  better.  The  wealth  of  the  country  was  nearly  station- 
ary. But  now  I  show  you  what  protection  produced ;  that  it 
made  no  addition,  it  gave  no  onward  movement  to  the  profits  of 
those  who  are  your  customers.  But  on  these  profits  you  de- 
pend ;  because,  under  all  circumstances,  gentlemen,  this,  I 
think,  nobody  will  dispute — a  considerable  portion  of  what  the 
Englishman  or  the  Scotchman  produces  will,  some  way  or 
other,  find  its  way  down  his  throat. 

What  has  been  the  case,  gentlemen,  since  we  cast  off  the 
superstition  of  protection,  since  we  discarded  the  imposture  of 
protection  ?  I  will  tell  you  what  happened  between  1830,  when 
there  were  no  railways,  and  1842,  when  no  change,  no  impor- 
tant change,  had  been  made  as  to  protection,  but  when  the  rail- 
way system  was  in  operation,  hardly  in  Scotland,  but  in  Eng- 
land to  a  very  great  extent,  to  a  very  considerable  extent  upon 
the  main  lines  of  communication.  The  exports  which  in  1830 
had  been  somewhere  about  £37,000,000,  between  1840  and  1842 
showed  an  average  amount  of  £50,000,000.  That  seems  due, 
gentlemen,  to  the  agency  of  railways ;  and  I  wish  you  to  bear 
in  mind  the  increasing  benefit  now  derived  from  that  agency, 
in  order  that  I  may  not  claim  any  undue  credit  for  freedom  of 
trade.  From  1842,  gentlemen,  onward,  the  successive  stages 
of  free  trade  began ;  in  1842,  in  1845,  m  l846,  in  1853,  and 
again  in  i860,  the  large  measures  were  carried  which  have 
completely  reformed  your  customs  tariff,  and  reduced  it  from  a 


268  GLADSTONE 

taxation  of  twelve  hundred  articles  to  a  taxation  of,  I  think, 
less  than  twelve. 

Now,  under  the  system  of  protection,  the  export  trade  of  the 
country,  the  wealth  and  the  power  of  the  manufacturing  and 
producing  classes  to  purchase  your  agricultural  products,  did 
not  increase  at  all.  In  the  time  when  railways  began  to  be  in 
operation,  but  before  free  trade,  the  exports  of  the  country  in- 
creased, as  I  have  shown  you,  by  £13,000,000  in  somewhere 
about  thirteen  years — that  is  to  say,  taking  it  roughly,  at  the 
rate  of  £  1,000,000  a  year. 

But  since  1842,  and  down  to  the  present  time,  we  have  had, 
along  with  railways,  always  increasing  their  benefits — we  have 
had  the  successive  adoption  of  free-trade  measures ;  and  what 
has  been  the  state  of  the  export  business  of  the  country?  It 
has  risen  in  this  degree,  that  that  which  from  1840  to  1842  aver- 
aged £50,000,000,  from  1873  to  1878  averaged  £218,000,000. 
Instead  of  increasing,  as  it  had  done  between  1830  and  1842, 
when  railways  only  were  at  work,  at  the  rate  of  £1,000,000  a 
year — instead  of  remaining  stagnant  as  it  did  when  the  country 
was  under  protection  pure  and  simple,  with  no  augmentation  of 
the  export  trade  to  enlarge  the  means  of  those  who  buy  your 
products,  the  total  growth  in  a  period  of  thirty-five  years  was 
no  less  than  £168,000,000,  or,  taking  it  roughly,  a  growth  in  the 
export  trade  of  the  country  to  the  extent  of  between  £4,000,000 
and  £5,000,000  a  year.  But,  gentlemen,  you  know  the  fact. 
You  know  very  well,  that  while  restriction  was  in  force,  you  did 
not  get  the  prices  that  you  have  been  getting  for  the  last  twenty 
years.  The  price  of  wheat  has  been  much  the  same  as  it  had 
been  before.  The  price  of  oats  is  a  better  price  than  was  to  be 
had  on  the  average  of  protective  times.  But  the  price,  with 
the  exception  of  wheat,  of  almost  every  agricultural  commodity, 
the  price  of  wool,  the  price  of  meat,  the  price  of  cheese,  the 
price  of  everything  that  the  soil  produces,  has  been  largely  in- 
creased in  a  market  free  and  open  to  the  world  ;  because,  while 
the  artificial  advantage  which  you  got  through  protection,  as 
it  was  supposed  to  be  an  advantage,  was  removed,  you  were 
brought  into  that  free  and  open  market,  and  the  energy  of  free 
trade  so  enlarged  the  buying  capacity  of  your  customers  that 
they  were  willing  and  able  to  give  you,  and  did  give  you,  a 
great  deal  more  for  your  meat,  your  wool,  and  your  products  in 


ON   DOMESTIC   AND   FOREIGN   AFFAIRS 


,269 


general,  than  you  would  ever  have  got  under  the  system  of 
protection.  Gentlemen,  if  that  be  true — and  it  cannot,  I  be- 
lieve, be  impeached  or  impugned — if  that  be  true,  I  don't  think 
I  need  further  discuss  the  matter,  especially  when  so  many 
other  matters  have  to  be  discussed. 

I  will  therefore  ask  you  again  to  cross  the  seas  with  me.  I 
see  that  the  time  is  flying  onward,  and,  gentlemen,  it  is  very 
hard  upon  you  to  be  so  much  vexed  upon  the  subject  of  policy 
abroad.  You  think  generally,  and  I  think,  that  your  domestic 
affairs  are  quite  enough  to  call  for  all  your  attention.  There 
was  a  saying  of  an  ancient  Greek  orator,  who,  unfortunately, 
very  much  undervalued  what  we  generally  call  the  better  por- 
tion of  the  community — namely,  women ;  he  made  a  very  dis- 
respectful observation,  which  I  am  going  to  quote,  not  for  the 
purpose  of  concurring  with  it,  but  for  the  purpose  of  an  illus- 
tration. 

Pericles,  the  great  Athenian  statesman,  said  with  regard  to 
women,  their  greatest  merit  was  to  be  never  heard  of. 

Now,  what  Pericles  untruly  said  of  women,  I  am  very  much 
disposed  to  say  of  foreign  affairs — their  great  merit  would  be 
to  be  never  heard  of.  Unfortunately,  instead  of  being  never 
heard  of,  they  are  always  heard  of,  and  you  hear  almost  of  noth- 
ing else ;  and  I  can't  promise  you,  gentlemen,  that  you  will  be 
relieved  from  this  everlasting  din,  because  the  consequences  of 
an  unwise  meddling  with  foreign  affairs  are  consequences  that 
will  for  some  time  necessarily  continue  to  trouble  you,  and  that 
will  find  their  way  to  your  pockets  in  the  shape  of  increased  tax- 
ation. 

Gentlemen,  with  that  apology  I  ask  you  again  to  go  with  me 
beyond  the  seas.  And  as  I  wish  to  do  full  justice,  I  will  tell  you 
what  I  think  to  be  the  right  principles  of  foreign  policy ;  and 
then,  as  far  as  your  patience  and  my  strength  will  permit,  I  will, 
at  any  rate  for  a  short  time,  illustrate  those  right  principles  by 
some  of  the  departures  from  them  that  have  taken  place  of  late 
years.  I  first  give  you,  gentlemen,  what  I  think  the  right  prin- 
ciples of  foreign  policy. 

The  first  thing  is  to  foster  the  strength  of  the  empire  by  just 
legislation  and  economy  at  home,  thereby  producing  two  of 
the  great  elements  of  national  power — namely,  wealth,  which 
is  a  physical  element,  and  union  and  contentment,  which  are 


270  GLADSTONE 

moral  elements — and  to  reserve  the  strength  of  the  empire,  to 
reserve  the  expenditure  of  that  strength  for  great  and  worthy 
occasions  abroad.  Here  is  my  first  principle  of  foreign  policy : 
good  government  at  home. 

My  second  principle  of  foreign  policy  is  this,  that  its  aim 
ought  to  be  to  preserve  to  the  nations  of  the  world — and  espe- 
cially, were  it  but  for  shame,  when  we  recollect  the  sacred  name 
we  bear  as  Christians,  especially  to  the  Christian  nations  of  the 
world — the  blessings  of  peace.     That  is  my  second  principle. 

My  third  principle  is  this:  Even,  gentlemen,  when  you  do 
a  good  thing  you  may  do  it  in  so  bad  a  way  that  you  may  en- 
tirely spoil  the  beneficial  effect ;  and  if  we  were  to  make  our- 
selves the  apostles  of  peace  in  the  sense  of  conveying  to  the 
minds  of  other  nations  that  we  thought  ourselves  more  entitled 
to  an  opinion  on  that  subject  than  they  are,  or  to  deny  their 
rights — well,  very  likely  we  should  destroy  the  whole  value  of 
our  doctrines.  In  my  opinion  the  third  sound  principle  is  this : 
to  strive  to  cultivate  and  maintain,  aye,  to  the  very  uttermost, 
what  is  called  the  concert  of  Europe ;  to  keep  the  powers  of 
Europe  in  union  together.  And  why?  Because  by  keeping 
all  in  union  together  you  neutralize,  and  fetter,  and  bind  up 
the  selfish  aims  of  each.  I  am  not  here  to  flatter  either  Eng- 
land or  any  of  them.  They  have  selfish  aims,  as,  unfortunately, 
we  in  late  years  have  too  sadly  shown  that  we  too  have  had  self- 
ish aims;  but  their  common  action  is  fatal  to  selfish  aims. 
Common  action  means  common  objects ;  and  the  only  objects 
for  which  you  can  unite  together  the  powers  of  Europe  are  ob- 
jects connected  with  the  common  good  of  them  all.  That,  gen- 
tlemen, is  my  third  principle  of  foreign  policy. 

My  fourth  principle  is :  That  you  should  avoid  needless  and 
entangling  engagements.  You  may  boast  about  them,  you 
may  brag  about  them,  you  may  say  you  are  procuring  consid- 
eration for  the  country.  You  may  say  that  an  Englishman 
can  now  hold  up  his  head  among  the  nations.  You  may 
say  that  he  is  now  not  in  the  hands  of  a  Liberal  ministry,  who 
thought  of  nothing  but  pounds,  shillings,  and  pence.  But  what 
does  all  this  come  to,  gentlemen?  It  comes  to  this,  that  you 
are  increasing  your  engagements  without  increasing  your 
strength ;  and  if  you  increase  engagements  without  increasing 
strength,  you  diminish  strength,  you  abolish  strength;  you 
really  reduce  the  empire  and  do  not  increase  it.     You  render 


ON   DOMESTIC   AND    FOREIGN   AFFAIRS 


271 


it  less  capable  of  performing  its  duties  ;  you  render  it  an  inheri- 
tance less  precious  to  hand  on  to  future  generations. 

My  fifth  principle  is  this,  gentlemen :  To  acknowledge  the 
equal  rights  of  all  nations.  You  may  sympathize  with  one 
nation  more  than  another.  Nay,  you  must  sympathize  in  cer- 
tain circumstances  with  one  nation  more  than  another.  You 
sympathize  most  with  those  nations,  as  a  rule,  with  which  you 
have  the  closest  connection  in  language,  in  blood,  and  in  re- 
ligion, or  whose  circumstances  at  the  time  seem  to  give  the 
strongest  claim  to  sympathy.  But  in  point  of  right  all  are 
equal,  and  you  have  no  right  to  set  up  a  system  under  which  one 
of  them  is  to  be  placed  under  moral  suspicion  or  espionage,  or 
to  be  made  the  constant  subject  of  invective.  If  you  do  that, 
but  especially  if  you  claim  for  yourself  a  superiority,  a  Phari- 
saical superiority  over  the  whole  of  them,  then  I  say  you  may 
talk  about  your  patriotism  if  you  please,  but  you  are  a  misjudg- 
ing friend  of  your  country,  and  in  undermining  the  basis  of  the 
esteem  and  respect  of  other  people  for  your  country  you  are 
in  reality  inflicting  the  severest  injury  upon  it.  I  have  now 
given  you,  gentlemen,  five  principles  of  foreign  policy.  Let  me 
give  you  a  sixth,  and  then  I  have  done. 

And  that  sixth  is  :  That  in  my  opinion  foreign  policy,  subject 
to  all  the  limitations  that  I  have  described,  the  foreign  policy 
of  England  should  always  be  inspired  by  the  love  of  freedom. 
There  should  be  a  sympathy  with  freedom,  a  desire  to  give  it 
scope,  founded  not  upon  visionary  ideas,  but  upon  the  long  ex- 
perience of  many  generations  within  the  shores  of  this  happy 
isle,  that  in  freedom  you  lay  the  firmest  foundations  both  of  loy- 
alty and  order ;  the  firmest  foundations  for  the  development 
of  individual  character,  and  the  best  provision  for  the  happiness 
of  the  nation  at  large.  In  the  foreign  policy  of  this  country 
the  name  of  Canning  ever  will  be  honored.  The  name  of  Rus- 
sell ever  will  be  honored.  The  name  of  Palmerston  ever  will 
be  honored  by  those  who  recollect  the  erection  of  the  kingdom 
of  Belgium,  and  the  union  of  the  disjoined  provinces  of  Italy. 
It  is  that  sympathy,  not  a  sympathy  with  disorder,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  founded  upon  the  deepest  and  most  profound  love  of 
order — it  is  that  sympathy  which  in  my  opinion  ought  to  be  the 
very  atmosphere  in  which  a  foreign  secretary  of  England  ought 
to  live  and  to  move. 


272  GLADSTONE 

Gentlemen,  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  do  more  to-day  than 
to  attempt  very  slight  illustrations  of  those  principles.  But  in 
uttering  those  principles  I  have  put  myself  in  a  position  in 
which  no  one  is  entitled  to  tell  me — you  will  hear  me  out  in 
what  I  say — that  I  simply  object  to  the  acts  of  others,  and  lay 
down  no  rules  of  action  myself.  I  am  not  only  prepared  to 
show  what  are  the  rules  of  action  which  in  my  judgment  are 
the  right  rules,  but  I  am  prepared  to  apply  them,  nor  will  I 
shrink  from  their  application.  I  will  take,  gentlemen,  the 
name  which,  most  of  all  others,  is  associated  with  suspicion, 
and  with  alarm,  and  with  hatred  in  the  minds  of  many  Eng- 
lishmen. I  will  take  the  name  of  Russia,  and  at  once  I  will 
tell  you  what  I  think  about  Russia,  and  how  I  am  prepared  as  a 
member  of  Parliament  to  proceed  in  anything  that  respects 
Russia.  You  have  heard  me,  gentlemen,  denounced  sometimes, 
I  believe,  as  a  Russian  spy,  sometimes  as  a  Russian  agent,  some- 
times as  perhaps  a  Russian  fool,  which  is  not  so  bad,  but  still  not 
very  desirable.  But,  gentlemen,  when  you  come  to  evidence, 
the  worst  thing  that  I  have  ever  seen  quoted  out  of  any  speech 
or  writing  of  mine  about  Russia  is  that  I  did  one  day  say,  or  I 
believe  I  wrote  these  terrible  words :  I  recommended  English- 
men to  imitate  Russia  in  her  good  deeds.  Was  not  that  a  terrible 
proposition?  I  cannot  recede  from  it.  I  think  we  ought  to 
imitate  Russia  in  her  good  deeds,  and  if  the  good  deeds  be 
few  I  am  sorry  for  it,  but  I  am  not  the  less  disposed  on  that 
account  to  imitate  them  when  they  come.  I  will  now  tell  you 
what  I  think  just  about  Russia. 

I  make  it  one  of  my  charges  against  the  foreign  policy  of  Her 
Majesty's  Government  that,  while  they  have  completely  es- 
tranged from  this  country — let  us  not  conceal  the  fact — the  feel- 
ings of  a  nation  of  eighty  millions,  for  that  is  the  number  of  the 
subjects  of  the  Russian  Empire — while  they  have  contrived  com- 
pletely to  estrange  the  feelings  of  that  nation,  they  have  aggran- 
dized the  power  of  Russia.  They  have  aggrandized  the  power 
of  Russia  in  two  ways,  which  I  will  state  with  perfect  distinct- 
ness. They  have  augmented  her  territory.  Before  the  Euro- 
pean powers  met  at  Berlin,  Lord  Salisbury  met  with  Count 
Schouvaloff,  and  Lord  Salisbury  agreed  that,  unless  he  could 
convince  Russia  by  his  arguments  in  the  open  Congress  of  Ber- 
lin, he  would  support  the  restoration  to  the  despotic  power  of 


ON    DOMESTIC   AND   FOREIGN   AFFAIRS  273 

Russia  of  that  country  north  of  the  Danube  which  at  the  mo- 
ment constituted  a  portion  of  the  free  state  of  Roumania. 
Why,  gentlemen,  what  had  been  done  by  the  Liberal  govern- 
ment, which,  forsooth,  attended  to  nothing  but  pounds,  shil- 
lings, and  pence?  The  Liberal  government  had  driven  Russia 
back  from  the  Danube.  Russia,  which  was  a  Danubian  power 
before  the  Crimean  War,  lost  this  position  on  the  Danube  by 
the  Crimean  War ;  and  the  Tory  government,  which  has  been 
incensing  and  inflaming  you  against  Russia,  yet,  nevertheless, 
by  binding  itself  beforehand  to  support,  when  the  judgment 
was  taken,  the  restoration  of  that  country  to  Russia,  has  ag- 
grandized the  power  of  Russia. 

It  further  aggrandized  the  power  of  Russia  in  Armenia ;  but 
I  would  not  dwell  upon  that  matter  if  it  were  not  for  a  very 
strange  circumstance.  You  know  that  an  Armenian  province 
was  given  to  Russia  after  the  war,  but  about  that  I  own  to  you 
I  have  very  much  less  feeling  of  objection.  I  have  objected 
from  the  first,  vehemently,  and  in  every  form,  to  the  granting 
of  territory  on  the  Danube  to  Russia,  and  carrying  back  the 
population  of  a  certain  country  from  a  free  state  to  a  despotic 
state  ;  but  with  regard  to  the  transfer  of  a  certain  portion  of  the 
Armenian  people  from  the  government  of  Turkey  to  the  gov- 
ernment of  Russia  I  must  own  that  I  contemplate  that  transfer 
with  much  greater  equanimity.  I  have  no  fear  myself  of  the 
territorial  extensions  of  Russia,  in  Asia,  no  fear  of  them  what- 
ever. I  think  the  fears  are  no  better  than  old  women's  fears. 
And  I  don't  wish  to  encourage  her  aggressive  tendencies  in 
Asia,  or  anywhere  else.  But  I  admit  it  may  be,  and  probably 
is,  the  case  that  there  is  some  benefit  attending  upon  the  trans- 
fer of  a  portion  of  Armenia  from  Turkey  to  Russia. 

But  here  is  a  very  strange  fact.  You  know  that  that  portion 
of  Armenia  includes  the  port  of  Batoum.  Lord  Salisbury  has 
lately  stated  to  the  country  that,  by  the  Treaty  of  Berlin,  the 
port  of  Batoum  is  to  be  only  a  commercial  port.  If  the  Treaty 
of  Berlin  stated  that  it  was  to  be  only  a  commercial  port,  which, 
of  course,  could  not  be  made  an  arsenal,  that  fact  would  be  very 
important.  But,  happily,  gentlemen,  although  treaties  are  con- 
cealed from  us  nowadays  as  long  and  as  often  as  is  possible,  the 
Treaty  of  Berlin  is  an  open  instrument.  We  can  consult  it  for 
ourselves ;  and  when  we  consult  the  Treaty  of  Berlin  we  find  it 
Vol.  II.— 18 


274 


GLADSTONE 


states  that  Batoum  shall  be  essentially  a  commercial  port,  but 
not  that  it  shall  be  only  a  commercial  port.  Why,  gentlemen, 
Leith  is  essentially  a  commercial  port,  but  there  is  nothing  to 
prevent  the  people  of  this  country,  if  in  their  wisdom  or  their 
folly  they  should  think  fit,  from  constituting  Leith  as  a  great 
naval  arsenal  or  fortification ;  and  there  is  nothing  to  prevent 
the  Emperor  of  Russia,  while  leaving  to  Batoum  a  character 
that  shall  be  essentially  commercial,  from  joining  with  that  an- 
other character  that  is  not  in  the  slightest  degree  excluded  by 
the  treaty,  and  making  it  as  much  as  he  pleases  a  port  of  mili- 
tary defence.  Therefore,  I  challenge  the  assertion  of  Lord 
Salisbury ;  and  as  Lord  Salisbury  is  fond  of  writing  letters  to 
the  "  Times  "  to  bring  the  Duke  of  Argyll  to  book,  he  perhaps 
will  be  kind  enough  to  write  another  letter  to  the  "  Times  "  and 
tell  in  what  clause  of  the  Treaty  of  Berlin  he  finds  it  written 
that  the  port  of  Batoum  shall  be  only  a  commercial  port.  For 
the  present,  I  simply  leave  it  on  record  that  he  has  misrepre- 
sented the  Treaty  of  Berlin. 

With  respect  to  Russia,  I  take  two  views  of  the  position  of 
Russia.  The  position  of  Russia  in  Central  Asia  I  believe  to  be 
one  that  has,  in  the  main,  been  forced  upon  her  against  her 
will.  She  has  been  compelled — and  this  is  the  impartial  opin- 
ion of  the  world — she  has  been  compelled  to  extend  her  frontier 
southward  in  Central  Asia  by  causes  in  some  degree  analogous 
to,  but  certainly  more  stringent  and  imperative  than,  the 
causes  which  have  commonly  led  us  to  extend,  in  a  far  more 
important  manner,  our  frontier  in  India  ;  and  I  think  it,  gentle- 
men, much  to  the  credit  of  the  late  Government,  much  to  the 
honor  of  Lord  Clarendon  and  Lord  Granville  that,  when  we 
were  in  office,  we  made  a  covenant  with  Russia,  in  which  Rus- 
sia bound  herself  to  exercise  no  influence  or  interference  what- 
ever in  Afghanistan,  we,  on  the  other  hand,  making  known  our 
desire  that  Afghanistan  should  continue  free  and  independent. 
Both  the  powers  acted  with  uniform  strictness  and  fidelity  upon 
this  engagement  until  the  day  when  we  were  removed  from 
office.  But  Russia,  gentlemen,  has  another  position — her  posi- 
tion in  respect  to  Turkey ;  and  here  it  is  that  I  have  com- 
plained of  the  Government  for  aggrandizing  the  power  of  Rus- 
sia ;  it  is  on  this  point  that  I  most  complain. 

The  policy  of  Her  Majesty's  Government  was  a  policy  of  re- 


ON   DOMESTIC   AND   FOREIGN   AFFAIRS 


275 


pelling  and  repudiating  the  Slavonic  populations  of  Turkey  in 
Europe,  and  of  declining  to  make  England  the  advocate  for  their 
interests.  Nay,  more,  she  became  in  their  view  the  advocate 
of  the  interests  opposed  to  theirs.  Indeed,  she  was  rather  the 
decided  advocate  of  Turkey ;  and  now  Turkey  is  full  of  loud 
complaints — and  complaints,  I  must  say,  not  unjust — that  we 
allured  her  on  to  her  ruin ;  that  we  gave  the  Turks  a  right  to 
believe  that  we  should  support  them ;  that  our  ambassadors, 
Sir  Henry  Elliot  and  Sir  Austin  Layard,  both  of  them  said  we 
had  most  vital  interests  in  maintaining  Turkey  as  it  was,  and 
consequently  the  Turks  thought  if  we  had  vital  interests  we 
should  certainly  defend  them ;  and  they  were  thereby  lured  on 
into  that  ruinous,  cruel,  and  destructive  war  with  Russia.  But 
by  our  conduct  to  the  Slavonic  populations  we  alienated  those 
populations  from  us.  We  made  our  name  odious  among  them. 
They  had  every  disposition  to  sympathize  with  us,  every  dispo- 
sition to  confide  in  us.  They  are,  as  a  people,  desirous  of 
freedom,  desirous  of  self-government,  with  no  aggressive  views, 
but  hating  the  idea  of  being  absorbed  in  a  huge  despotic  empire 
like  Russia.  But  when  they  found  that  we,  and  the  other  pow- 
ers of  Europe,  under  our  unfortunate  guidance,  declined  to  be- 
come in  any  manner  their  champions  in  defence  of  the  rights  of 
life,  of  property,  and  of  female  honor — when  they  found  that 
there  was  no  call  which  could  find  its  way  to  the  heart  of  Eng- 
land through  its  government,  or  to  the  hearts  of  other  powers, 
and  that  Russia  alone  was  disposed  to  fight  for  them,  why  nat- 
urally they  said,  Russia  is  our  friend.  We  have  done  every- 
thing, gentlemen,  in  our  power  to  drive  these  populations  into 
the  arms  of  Russia.  If  Russia  has  aggressive  dispositions  in 
the  direction  of  Turkey — and  I  think  it  probable  that  she  may 
have  them — it  is  we  who  have  laid  the  ground  upon  which  Rus- 
sia may  make  her  march  to  the  south — we  who  have  taught  the 
Bulgarians,  the  Servians,  the  Roumanians,  the  Montenegrins, 
that  there  is  one  power  in  Europe,  and  only  one,  which  is  ready 
to  support  in  act  and  by  the  sword  her  professions  of  sympathy 
with  the  oppressed  populations  of  Turkey.  That  power  is  Rus- 
sia, and  how  can  you  blame  these  people  if,  in  such  circum- 
stances, they  are  disposed  to  say,  Russia  is  our  friend  ?  But  why 
did  we  make  them  say  it?  Simply  because  of  the  policy  of  the 
Government,  not  because  of  the  wishes  of  the  people  of  this 


276  GLADSTONE 

country.  Gentlemen,  this  is  the  most  dangerous  form  of  ag- 
grandizing Russia.  If  Russia  is  aggressive  anywhere,  if  Rus- 
sia is  formidable  anywhere,  it  is  by  movements  toward  the 
south,  it  is  by  schemes  for  acquiring  command  of  the  straits  or 
of  Constantinople  ;  and  there  is  no  way  by  which  you  can  pos- 
sibly so  much  assist  her  in  giving  reality  to  these  designs  as  by 
inducing  and  disposing  the  populations  of  these  provinces,  who 
are  now  in  virtual  possession  of  them,  to  look  upon  Russia  as 
their  champion  and  their  friend,  to  look  upon  England  as  their 
disguised,  perhaps,  but  yet  real  and  effective  enemy. 

Why,  now,  gentlemen,  I  have  said  that  I  think  it  not  unrea- 
sonable either  to  believe,  or  at  any  rate  to  admit  it  to  be  possible, 
that  Russia  has  aggressive  designs  in  the  east  of  Europe.  I  do 
not  mean  immediate  aggressive  designs.  I  do  not  believe  that 
the  Emperor  of  Russia  is  a  man  of  aggressive  schemes  or  pol- 
icy. It  is  that,  looking  to  that  question  in  the  long  run,  look- 
ing at  what  has  happened,  and  what  may  happen  in  ten  or 
twenty  years,  in  one  generation,  in  two  generations,  it  is  highly 
probable  that  in  some  circumstances  Russia  may  develop  ag- 
gressive tendencies  towards  the  south. 

Perhaps  you  will  say  I  am  here  guilty  of  the  same  injustice 
to  Russia  that  I  have  been  deprecating,  because  I  say  that  we 
ought  not  to  adopt  the  method  of  condemning  anybody  without 
cause,  and  setting  up  exceptional  principles  in  proscription  of 
a  particular  nation.  Gentlemen,  I  will  explain  to  you  in  a  mo- 
ment the  principle  upon  which  I  act,  and  the  grounds  upon 
which  I  form  my  judgment.  They  are  simply  these  grounds : 
I  look  at  the  position  of  Russia,  the  geographical  position  of 
Russia  relatively  to  Turkey.  I  look  at  the  comparative 
strength  of  the  two  empires ;  I  look  at  the  importance  of  the 
Dardanelles  and  the  Bosphorus  as  an  exit  and  a  channel  for  the 
military  and  commercial  marine  of  Russia  to  the  Mediterra- 
nean ;  and  what  I  say  to  myself  is  this  :  If  the  United  Kingdom 
were  in  the  same  position  relatively  to  Turkey  which  Russia 
holds  upon  the  map  of  the  globe,  I  feel  quite  sure  that  we 
should  be  very  apt  indeed  both  to  entertain  and  to  execute  ag- 
gressive designs  upon  Turkey.  Gentlemen,  I  will  go  further, 
and  will  frankly  own  to  you  that  I  believe  if  we,  instead  of 
happily  inhabiting  this  island,  had  been  in  the  possession  of  the 
Russian  territory,  and  in  the  circumstances  of  the  Russian 


ON   DOMESTIC   AND   FOREIGN   AFFAIRS  277 

people,  we  should  most  likely  have  eaten  up  Turkey  long  ago. 
And  consequently,  in  saying  that  Russia  ought  to  be  vigilantly 
watched  in  that  quarter,  I  am  only  applying  to  her  the  rule 
which  in  parallel  circumstances  I  feel  convinced  ought  to  be 
applied,  and  would  be  justly  applied,  to  judgments  upon  our 
own  country. 

Gentlemen,  there  is  only  one  other  point  on  which  I  must  still 
say  a  few  words  to  you,  although  there  are  a  great  many  upon 
which  I  have  a  great  many  words  yet  to  say  somewhere  or  other. 

Of  all  the  principles,  gentlemen,  of  foreign  policy  which  I 
have  enumerated,  that  to  which  I  attach  the  greatest  value  is 
the  principle  of  the  equality  of  nations ;  because,  without  rec- 
ognizing that  principle,  there  is  no  such  thing  as  public  right, 
and  without  public  international  right  there  is  no  instrument 
available  for  settling  the  transactions  of  mankind  except  ma- 
terial force.  Consequently  the  principle  of  equality  among  na- 
tions lies,  in  my  opinion,  at  the  very  basis  and  root  of  a  Chris- 
tian civilization,  and  when  that  principle  is  compromised  or 
abandoned,  with  it  must  depart  our  hopes  of  tranquillity  and 
of  progress  for  mankind. 

I  am  sorry  to  say,  gentlemen,  that  I  feel  it  my  absolute  duty 
to  make  this  charge  against  the  foreign  policy  under  which  we 
have  lived  for  the  last  two  years,  since  the  resignation  of  Lord 
Derby.  It  has  been  a  foreign  policy,  in  my  opinion,  wholly,  or 
to  a  perilous  extent,  unregardful  of  public  right,  and  it  has 
been  founded  upon  the  basis  of  a  false,  I  think  an  arrogant  and 
a  dangerous,  assumption,  although  I  do  not  question  its  being 
made  conscientiously  and  for  what  was  believed  the  advantage 
of  the  country — an  untrue,  arrogant,  and  dangerous  assumption 
that  we  are  entitled  to  assume  for  ourselves  some  dignity,  whic  1 
we  should  also  be  entitled  to  withhold  from  others,  and  to  claim 
on  our  own  part  authority  to  do  things  which  we  would  not 
permit  to  be  done  by  others.  For  example,  when  Russia  was 
p:oing  to  the  Congress  at  Berlin,  we  said  :  "  Your  Treaty  of  San 
Stefano  is  of  no  value.  It  is  an  act  between  you  and  Turkey ; 
but  the  concerns  of  Turkey  by  the  Treaty  of  Paris  are  the  con- 
cerns of  Europe  at  large.  We  insist  upon  it  that  the  whole  of 
your  treaty  of  San  Stefano  shall  be  submitted  to  the  Congress 
at  Berlin,  that  they  may  judge  how  far  to  open  it  in  each  and 


278  GLADSTONE 

every  one  of  its  points,  because  the  concerns  of  Turkey  are  the 
common  concerns  of  the  powers  of  Europe  acting  in  concert." 

Having  asserted  that  principle  to  the  world,  what  did  we 
do?  These  two  things,  gentlemen:  Secretly,  without  the 
knowledge  of  Parliament,  without  even  the  forms  of  official 
procedure,  Lord  Salisbury  met  Count  Schouvaloff  in  London, 
and  agreed  with  him  upon  the  terms  on  which  the  two  powers 
together  should  be  bound  in  honor  to  one  another  to  act  upon 
all  the  most  important  points  when  they  came  before  the  Con- 
gress at  Berlin.  Having  alleged  against  Russia  that  she  should 
not  be  allowed  to  settle  Turkish  affairs  with  Turkey,  because 
they  were  but  two  powers,  and  these  affairs  were  the  common 
affairs  of  Europe,  and  of  European  interest,  we  then  got  Count 
Schouvaloff  into  a  private  room,  and  on  the  part  of  England 
and  Russia,  they  being  but  two  powers,  we  settled  a  large  num- 
ber of  the  most  important  of  these  affairs  in  utter  contempt  and 
derogation  of  the  very  principle  for  which  the  Government 
had  been  contending  for  months  before,  for  which  they  had 
asked  Parliament  to  grant  a  sum  of  £6,000,000,  for  which  they 
had  spent  that  i6,ooo,ooo  in  needless  and  mischievous  arma- 
ments. That  which  we  would  not  allow  Russia  to  do  with  Tur- 
key, because  we  pleaded  the  rights  of  Europe,  we  ourselves  did 
with  Russia,  in  contempt  of  the  rights  of  Europe.  Nor  was 
that  all,  gentlemen.  That  act  was  done,  I  think,  on  one  of 
the  last  days  of  May,  in  the  year  1878,  and  the  document  was 
published,  made  known  to  the  world,  made  known  to  the 
Congress  at  Berlin,  to  its  infinite  astonishment,  unless  I  am 
very  greatly  misinformed. 

But  that  was  not  all.  Nearly  at  the  same  time  we  performed 
the  same  operation  in  another  quarter.  We  objected  to  a  treaty 
between  Russia  and  Turkey  as  having  no  authority,  though  that 
treaty  was  made  in  the  light  of  day — namely,  to  the  Treaty 
of  San  Stefano ;  and  what  did  we  do  ?  We  went  not  in  the 
light  of  day,  but  in  the  darkness  of  the  night — not  in  the 
knowledge  and  cognizance  of  other  powers,  all  of  whom  would 
have  had  the  faculty  and  means  of  watching  all  along,  and  of 
preparing  and  taking  their  own  objections  and  shaping  their 
own  policy — not  in  the  light  of  day,  but  in  the  darkness  of  the 
night,  we  sent  the  ambassador  of  England  in  Constantinople 
to  the  minister  of  Turkey,  and  there  he  framed,  even  while  the 


ON   DOMESTIC  AND  FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  2?9 

Congress  of  Berlin  was  sitting  to  determine  these  matters  of 
common  interest,  he  framed  that  which  is  too  famous,  shall  I 
say,  or  rather  too  notorious,  as  the  Anglo-Turkish  Conven- 
tion. 

Gentlemen,  it  is  said,  and  said  truly,  that  truth  beats  fiction ; 
that  what  happens  in  fact  from  time  to  time  is  of  a  character 
so  daring,  so  strange,  that  if  the  novelist  were  to  imagine  it  and 
put  it  upon  his  pages,  the  whole  world  would  reject  it  from  its 
improbability.  And  that  is  the  case  of  the  Anglo-Turkish 
Convention.  For  who  would  have  believed  it  possible  that  we 
should  assert  before  the  world  the  principle  that  Europe  only 
could  deal  with  the  affairs  of  the  Turkish  empire,  and  should 
ask  Parliament  for  six  millions  to  support  us  in  asserting  that 
principle,  should  send  ministers  to  Berlin  who  declared  that  un- 
less that  principle  was  acted  upon  they  would  go  to  war  with 
the  material  that  Parliament  had  placed  in  their  hands,  and 
should  at  the  same  time  be  concluding  a  separate  agreement 
with  Turkey,  under  which  those  matters  of  European  juris- 
diction were  coolly  transferred  to  English  jurisdiction ;  and 
the  whole  matter  was  sealed  with  the  worthless  bribe  of  the  pos- 
session and  administration  of  the  island  of  Cyprus !  I  said, 
gentlemen,  the  worthless  bribe  of  the  island  of  Cyprus,  and  that 
is  the  truth.  It  is  worthless  for  our  purposes — not  worthless 
in  itself ;  an  island  of  resources,  an  island  of  natural  capabilities, 
provided  they  are  allowed  to  develop  themselves  in  the  course  of 
circumstances,  without  violent  and  unprincipled  methods  of  ac- 
tion. But  Cyprus  was  not  thought  to  be  worthless  by  those 
who  accepted  it  as  a  bribe.  On  the  contrary,  you  were  told 
that  it  was  to  secure  the  road  to  India ;  you  were  told  that  it 
was  to  be  the  site  of  an  arsenal  very  cheaply  made,  and  more 
valuable  than  Malta ;  you  were  told  that  it  was  to  revive  trade. 
And  a  multitude  of  companies  were  formed,  and  sent  agents 
and  capital  to  Cyprus,  and  some  of  them,  I  fear,  grievously 
burned  their  fingers  there.  I  am  not  going  to  dwell  upon  that 
now.  What  I  have  in  view  is  not  the  particular  merits  of  Cy- 
prus, but  the  illustration  that  I  have  given  you  in  the  case  of 
the  agreement  of  Lord  Salisbury  with  Count  Schouvaloff,  and 
in  the  case  of  the  Anglo-Turkish  Convention,  of  the  manner  in 
which  we  have  asserted  for  ourselves  a  principle  that  we  had 
denied  to  others — namely,  the  principle  of  overriding  the  Eu- 


280  GLADSTONE 

ropean  authority  of  the  Treaty  of  Paris,  and  taking  the  mat- 
ters which  that  treaty  gave  to  Europe  into  our  own  separate 
jurisdiction. 

Now,  gentlemen,  I  am  sorry  to  find  that  that  which  I  call 
the  pharisaical  assertion  of  our  own  superiority  has  found  its 
way  alike  into  the  practice,  and  seemingly  into  the  theories  of 
the  government.  I  am  not  going  to  assert  anything  which  is 
not  known,  but  the  Prime  Minister  has  said  that  there  is  one 
day  in  the  year — namely,  the  ninth  of  November,  Lord  Mayor's 
Day — on  which  the  language  of  sense  and  truth  is  to  be  heard 
amidst  the  surrounding  din  of  idle  rumors  generated  and  fledged 
in  the  brains  of  irresponsible  scribes.  I  do  not  agree,  gentle- 
men, in  that  panegyric  upon  the  ninth  of  November.  I  am 
much  more  apt  to  compare  the  ninth  of  November — certainly 
a  well-known  day  in  the  year — but  as  to  some  of  the  speeches 
that  have  lately  been  made  upon  it,  I  am  very  much  disposed 
to  compare  it  with  another  day  in  the  year,  well  known  to  Brit- 
ish tradition,  and  that  other  day  in  the  year  is  the  first  of  April. 
But,  gentlemen,  on  that  day  the  Prime  Minister,  speaking  out 
— I  do  not  question  for  a  moment  his  own  sincere  opinion — 
made  what  I  think  one  of  the  most  unhappy  and  ominous  allu- 
sions ever  made  by  a  minister  of  this  country.  He  quoted  cer- 
tain words,  easily  rendered,  as  "  empire  "  and  "  liberty  " — words 
(he  said)  of  a  Roman  statesman,  words  descriptive  of  the  state 
of  Rome — and  he  quoted  them  as  words  which  were  capable  of 
legitimate  application  to  the  position  and  circumstances  of  Eng- 
land. I  join  issue  with  the  Prime  Minister  upon  that  subject, 
and  I  affirm  that  nothing  can  be  more  fundamentally  unsound, 
more  practically  ruinous,  than  the  establishment  of  Roman 
analogies  for  the  guidance  of  British  policy.  What,  gentle- 
men, was  Rome?  Rome  was  indeed  an  imperial  state,  you 
may  tell  me — I  know  not,  I  cannot  read  the  counsels  of  Provi- 
dence— a  State  having  a  mission  to  subdue  the  world,  but  a 
State  whose  very  basis  it  was  to  deny  the  equal  rights,  to  pro- 
scribe the  independent  existence  of  other  nations.  That,  gen- 
tlemen, was  the  Roman  idea.  It  has  been  partially  and  not 
ill  described  in  three  lines  of  a  translation  from  Vergil  by  our 
great  poet  Dryden,  which  run  as  follows: 

"  O  Rome !  'tis  thine  alone  with  awful  sway 
To  rule  mankind,  and  make  the  world  obey, 
Disposing  peace  and  war  thine  own  majestic  way." 


ON   DOMESTIC   AND   FOREIGN   AFFAIRS  281 

We  are  told  to  fall  back  upon  this  example.  No  doubt  the 
word  "  empire  "  was  qualified  with  the  word  "  liberty."  But 
what  did  the  two  words  "  liberty  "  and  "  empire  "  mean  in  a 
Roman  mouth  ?  They  meant  simply  this :  "  Liberty  for  our- 
selves, empire  over  the  rest  of  mankind." 

I  do  not  think,  gentlemen,  that  this  ministry,  or  any  other 
ministry,  is  going  to  place  us  in  the  position  of  Rome.  What 
I  object  to  is  the  revival  of  the  idea.  I  care  not  how  feebly,  I 
care  not  even  how,  from  a  philosophic  or  historical  point  of 
view,  how  ridiculous  the  attempt  at  this  revival  may  be.  I  say 
it  indicates  an  intention — I  say  it  indicates  a  frame  of  mind,  and 
the  frame  of  mind,  unfortunately,  I  find,  has  been  consistent 
with  the  policy  of  which  I  have  given  you  some  illustrations — 
the  policy  of  denying  to  others  the  rights  that  we  claim  our- 
selves. No  doubt,  gentlemen,  Rome  may  have  had  its  work 
to  do,  and  Rome  did  its  work.  But  modern  times  have  brought 
a  different  state  of  things.  Modern  times  have  established  a 
sisterhood  of  nations,  equal,  independent,  each  of  them  built 
up  under  that  legitimate  defence  which  public  law  affords  to 
every  nation,  living  within  its  own  borders,  and  seeking  to  per- 
form its  own  affairs ;  but  if  one  thing  more  than  another  has 
been  detestable  to  Europe,  it  has  been  the  appearance  upon  the 
stage  from  time  to  time  of  men  who,  even  in  the  times  of 
the  Christian  civilization,  have  been  thought  to  aim  at  universal 
dominion.  It  was  this  aggressive  disposition  on  the  part  of 
Louis  XIV,  King  of  France,  that  led  your  forefathers,  gentle- 
men, freely  to  spend  their  blood  and  treasure  in  a  cause  not  im- 
mediately their  own,  and  to  struggle  against  the  method  of 
policy  which,  having  Paris  for  its  centre,  seemed  to  aim  at  an 
universal  monarchy. 

It  was  the  very  same  thing,  a  century  and  a  half  later,  which 
was  the  charge  launched,  and  justly  launched,  against  Napo- 
leon, that  under  his  dominion  France  was  not  content  even  with 
her  extended  limits,  but  Germany,  and  Italy,  and  Spain,  appar- 
ently without  any  limit  to  this  pestilent  and  pernicious  process, 
were  to  be  brought  under  the  dominion  or  influence  of  France, 
and  national  equality  was  to  be  trampled  under  foot,  and  na- 
tional rights  denied.  For  that  reason  England  in  the  struggle 
almost  exhausted  herself,  greatly  impoverished  her  people, 
brought  upon  herself,  and  Scotland,  too,  the  consequences  of  a 


282  GLADSTONE 

debt  that  nearly  crushed  their  energies,  and  poured  forth  their 
Lest  blood  without  limit,  in  order  to  resist  and  put  down  these 
intolerable  pretensions. 

Gentlemen,  it  is  but  in  a  pale  and  weak  and  almost  despicable 
miniature  that  such  ideas  are  now  set  up,  but  you  will  observe 
that  the  poison  lies — that  the  poison  and  the  mischief  lie — in 
the  principle  and  not  the  scale. 

It  is  the  opposite  principle  which,  I  say,  has  been  compro- 
mised by  the  action  of  the  ministry,  and  which  I  call  upon 
you,  and  upon  any  who  choose  to  hear  my  views,  to  vindicate 
when  the  day  of  our  election  comes ;  I  mean  the  sound  and 
the  sacred  principle  that  Christendom  is  formed  of  a  band  of 
nations  who  are  united  to  one  another  in  the  bonds  of  right ; 
that  they  are  without  distinction  of  great  and  small ;  there  is 
an  absolute  equality  between  them — the  same  sacredness  de- 
fends the  narrow  limits  of  Belgium  as  attaches  to  the  extended 
frontiers  of  Russia,  or  Germany,  or  France.  I  hold  that  he  who 
by  act  or  word  brings  that  principle  into  peril  or  disparage- 
ment, however  honest  his  intentions  may  be,  places  himself  in 
the  position  of  one  inflicting — I  won't  say  intending  to  inflict — 
I  ascribe  nothing  of  the  sort — but  inflicting  injury  upon  his  own 
country,  and  endangering  the  peace  and  all  the  most  funda- 
mental interests  of  Christian  society. 


THE   ESTABLISHED   CHURCH   IN   IRELAND 

Delivered  in  the  House  of  Commons,  March  I,  1869 

THE  motion,  sir,  which,  in  concluding,  I  shall  propose  to 
the  committee  is,  that  the  chairman  be  directed  to  move 
the  House  that  leave  be  given  to  bring  in  a  bill  to  put  an 
end  to  the  Established  Church  in  Ireland,  and  to  make  pro- 
vision in  respect  of  the  temporalities  thereof,  and  in  respect 
of  the  Royal  College  of  Maynooth.  I  do  not  know,  sir,  whether 
I  should  be  accurate  in  describing  the  subject  of  this  resolu- 
tion as  the  most  grave  and  arduous  work  of  legislation  that 
ever  has  been  laid  before  the  House  of  Commons ;  but  I  am 
quite  sure  I  should  speak  the  truth  if  I  confined  myself  to 
asserting  that  there  has  probably  been  no  occasion  when  the 
disproportion  was  so  great  between  the  demands  of  the  sub- 
ject that  is  to  be  brought  before  you,  and  the  powers  of  the 
person  whose  duty  it  is  to  submit  it.  I  will  not,  however, 
waste  time  in  apologies  that  may  be  considered  futile,  and  the 
more  so  because  I  am  conscious  that  the  field  I  have  to  traverse 
is  a  very  wide  one,  and  that  nothing  but  the  patient  favor  and 
kindness  of  the  committee  can  enable  me  in  any  degree  to 
attain  the  end  I  have  in  view — namely,  that  of  submitting 
with  fulness  and  with  clearness  both  the  principles  and  the 
details  of  a  measure  which,  as  far  as  regards  its  principles,  is 
singularly  arduous,  and,  as  far  as  regards  its  details,  must 
necessarily  embrace  matter  of  a  character  highly  complex  and 
diverse. 

Now,  I  cannot  but  be  aware  that,  under  ordinary  circum- 
stances, one  who  undertakes  to  introduce  to  the  House  of 
Commons  a  subject  of  grave  constitutional  change  ought  to 
commence  by  laying  his  ground  strongly  and  broadly  in  his- 
torical and  political  reasons.  On  this  occasion  I  shall  feel 
myself  in  the  main  dispensed  from  entering  upon  them.    Un- 

283 


284  GLADSTONE 

der  ordinary  circumstances,  in  discussing  the  subject  of  the 
Church  of  Ireland — I  mean  had  nothing  already  occurred  in 
this  House  or  elsewhere  in  relation  to  it  on  which  I  might 
take  my  stand — I  should  endeavor  to  pass  in  review  the  nu- 
merous, I  might  say  the  numberless  and  powerful  arguments 
which,  in  my  opinion,  may  be  adduced  to  prove  that  this 
Establishment  cannot  continue  to  exist  with  advantage  to  it- 
self or  without  mischief  to  the  country.  I  should  be  prepared 
to  show  how  many  benefices  there  are  in  Ireland  where,  al- 
though there  is  a  church  population,  it  can  hardly  be  said  to 
be  more  than  an  official  church  population,  for  the  members 
of  these  benefices  are  too  often  restricted  to  those  whom  we 
may  reasonably  suppose  to  be  supplied  by  the  families  of  the 
clergyman,  the  clerk,  and  the  sexton.  I  should  show,  sir,  how 
buttresses  have  been  devised  for  the  maintenance  of  this  ex- 
traordinary system  in  the  shape  of  those  grants  from  the 
consolidated  fund  in  this  country,  on  the  one  hand  to  the 
Presbyterians  under  the  form  of  the  Regium  Donum,  and  on 
the  other  hand  to  the  Roman  Catholics  under  the  form  of  the 
Maynooth  grant,  without  which  it  was  felt  that  the  main- 
tenance of  such  an  Establishment  in  Ireland  would  be  intol- 
erable and  impossible.  I  should  endeavor  to  show  how  Par- 
liament has  been  so  conscious  of  the  difficulties  attending  the 
position  which  it  has  held  that  it  has  actually  been  reduced 
upon  more  than  one  occasion  to  waste  away,  by  positive  pro- 
visions of  legislation,  the  property  of  the  Church,  in  order 
that  its  magnitude  compared  with  the  duties  might  not  too 
much  shock  the  public  mind.  I  should  endeavor  to  show  how 
in  past  times,  and  through  all  the  evil  years  of  the  penal 
legislation  that  has  affected  Ireland,  the  authorities  of  this 
Established  Church  have  unfortunately  stood  in  the  foremost 
rank  with  respect  to  the  enactment  of  those  laws  on  which 
we  cannot  look  back  without  shame  and  sorrow. 

Sir,  of  the  Established  Church  in  Ireland  I  will  only  say 
that,  although  I  believe  its  spirit  to  have  undergone  an  im- 
mense change  since  those  evil  times,  yet,  unfortunately,  it  still 
remains,  if  not  the  home  and  the  refuge,  yet  the  token  and  the 
symbol  of  ascendancy,  and,  so  long  as  that  Establishment  lives, 
painful  and  bitter  memories  of  ascendancy  can  never  die.  But, 
sir,  instead  of  lengthened  discussion  upon  this  and  kindred 


THE   ESTABLISHED   CHURCH   IN   IRELAND  285 

topics,  I  hope  I  shall  be  sufficiently  justified  in  passing  at  once 
to  the  measure  of  the  Government  by  a  reference  to  recent 
occurrences.  In  form,  without  doubt,  this  is  the  first,  the  very 
first  stage  of  a  great  political  measure,  liable  and  open  at 
every  point  to  controversy ;  but  in  substance  we  cannot  dis- 
miss from  our  view  that  we  are  virtually  taking  up  and  are 
bound  to  prosecute  the  unfinished  labors  of  last  year. 

I  refer  to  those  debates  which  formed  the  main,  almost  the 
only,  subject  of  party  difference  in  the  discussions  of  this  House 
during  the  session  of  1868.  I  refer  to  the  large  majority 
which  in  a  House  of  Commons  undoubtedly  Conservative  in 
its  general  spirit  affirmed,  notwithstanding,  the  necessity  of 
bringing  the  system  of  religious  establishment  in  Ireland  to 
a  close.  I  refer  to  the  autumn  spent  in  incessant  discussions 
of  this  subject  before  every  constituency  in  the  country.  I 
refer  to  the  elections  in  which  the  issue  so  clearly  put  was  not 
less  decisively  answered.  And  lastly,  but  not  least,  I  refer  to 
that  resignation  of  the  late  administration  on  which  I  have 
not  to  pronounce  one  word  of  censure,  but  about  which  I  am 
sure  I  am  justified  in  stating  that  it  was  an  unusual  course. 
I  have  not  one  word  of  censure  to  utter,  but  assuredly  I  am 
justified  in  saying  that  it  forms  the  most  emphatic  testimony 
to  the  character  of  that  judgment  which  has  already  been  pro- 
nounced by  the  representatives  and  by  the  people  of  the  three 
kingdoms.  Nor  shall  I  dwell  in  any  detail  upon  the  counter- 
arguments which  have  been  ably,  sincerely,  and  persistently 
used  in  defence  of  the  Established  Church.  If  I  name  them, 
it  is  to  do  little  more  than  to  say  that  we  are  responsible  for 
this  measure,  and  we  who  on  this  side  are  pledged  to  its  general 
principles  shall  be  ready  upon  every  due  occasion,  with  all  re- 
spect to  those  who  oppose  us,  to  meet  those  counter-arguments. 

It  is  said  that  the  measure  we  are  about  to  introduce  will 
be  adverse  to  religion.  I  believe  it  to  be  favorable,  to  be  essen- 
tial to  the  maintenance  of  those  principles  of  right  on  which 
every  religion  must  rest.  We  shall  be  told,  more  especially, 
that  it  is  adverse  to  the  interests  of  Protestantism ;  but  we 
shall  point  to  the  condition  of  Ireland,  and  shall  argue  from 
the  facts  of  that  condition  that  the  interests  of  Protestantism 
have  not  been  promoted,  but  on  the  contrary  have  been  injured 
by  our  perseverance  in  a  system  which  reason  does  not  justify. 


286  GLADSTONE 

We  shall  be  told,  perhaps,  that  we  are  invading  the  rights  of 
property.  No  possible  confidence  can  be  greater  than  that 
with  which  we  shall  meet  that  argument.  On  former  occa- 
sions, indeed,  things  have  been  done  by  Parliament,  under  the 
extreme  pressure  of  the  case,  which  it  may  be  difficult  to 
reconcile  with  the  extreme  assertion  of  the  rights  of  property. 
There  are  clauses,  and  important  clauses,  of  the  Church  Tem- 
poralities Act  of  1833  which  greatly  strain  the  abstract  theory 
of  property,  and  which  I  for  one  am  totally  unable  to  reconcile 
with  its  general  rules.  But,  so  far  as  I  know,  there  is  no  im- 
putation that  can  fairly  be  made  against  the  measure  we  pro- 
pose with  respect  to  the  rights  of  property  by  any  other  per- 
sons than  those  who  hold  what  appears  to  me  the  untenable 
— I  may  even  say  the  extravagant — doctrine  that  although 
Parliament  has  a  perfect  right  to  direct  the  course  of  the 
descent  of  property  in  the  case  of  natural  descent,  lineage  by 
blood,  yet  it  has  no  right,  when  once  the  artificial  existence  of 
what  we  call  a  corporation  has  been  created,  to  control  the 
existence  of  that  corporation  or  to  extinguish  it  even  under 
the  gravest  public  exigency.  Well,  we  shall  be  told  also  of 
the  Act  of  Union ;  and  I  cannot,  nor  shall  I  attempt  to  dis- 
semble that  on  a  point  which  has  been  described  as  essential 
we  propose  to  alter  that  act.  The  Act  of  Union  has  been 
altered  on  other  occasions,  though  never  for  so  grave  a  cause 
as  this;  but  we  shall  confidently  contend  that  while  we  are 
altering  this  particular  provision  of  the  Act  of  Union,  we  are 
confirming  its  general  purport  and  substance,  and  laboring 
to  the  best  of  our  humble  ability  to  give  it  those  roots  which 
unfortunately  it  has  never  yet  adequately  struck  in  the  heart 
and  affections  of  the  people. 

And  lastly,  sir,  this  claim  I,  for  one,  confidently,  boldly, 
make  on  behalf  of  the  measure  that  we  are  introducing — I 
say  we  are  giving  effect  to  the  spirit  of  a  former  policy.  The 
great  minister  who  proposed  the  Act  of  Union  neither  said 
nor  believed  that  it  would  be  possible  under  a  legislative  union 
to  maintain  the  system  of  religious  inequality  which  he  found 
subsisting  in  Ireland.  On  the  contrary,  he  has  left  upon  record 
his  strong  conviction  that  the  countenance  and  support  af- 
forded from  national  sources  to  the  Established  Church  must 
be  extended  to  other  religions  of  the  country.     I  admit  that 


THE   ESTABLISHED   CHURCH    IN    IRELAND  287 

we  pursue  religious  equality  by  means  different  from  those 
proposed  by  Mr.  Pitt,  but  by  means,  as  I  believe,  better  suited 
to  the  purpose  we  have  in  view,  and  certainly  more  consonant 
to  the  spirit,  to  the  opportunities,  and  to  the  possibilities  of 
the  times  in  which  we  live.  Be  that,  however,  as  it  may,  and 
with  all  that  allowance  for  difference  of  means,  the  end  we 
have  in  view  is  the  same,  and  for  that  end  we  are  entitled  to 
quote  his  great  authority,  and  the  authority  of  many  of  those 
who  have  followed  him  in  their  public  career. 

Sir,  having  referred  to  what  I  venture  to  call — although  not 
in  any  technical  or  formal  sense — the  previous  stages  of  this 
measure,  I  will  briefly  remind  the  committee  of  the  character 
of  the  general  declarations  by  which  the  late  House  of  Com- 
mons was  moved  to  action,  and  of  those  pledges — for  I  do  not 
hesitate  to  recognize  them  in  that  capacity — which  we  are  now 
called  upon  to  do  our  best  to  redeem.  I  think,  sir,  it  was  well 
understood  to  be  the  view  of  those  who  supported  the  resolu- 
tions of  last  year  that  the  system  of  Church  Establishment  in 
Ireland  must  be  brought  thoroughly  and  completely  to  a  close 
— that  although  the  word  "  disendowment "  was  never  em- 
bodied in  any  resolution  of  this  House,  nor,  so  far  as  I  recol- 
lect, was  ever  accepted  without  qualification  in  the  speeches 
of  those  who  most  prominently  supported  it,  yet,  as  a  general 
rule  and  for  every  substantial  purpose  and  effect,  an  end  must 
likewise  be  put  to  the  system  of  the  public  endowment  of  re- 
ligion in  Ireland.  While  the  principles  of  the  measure  were 
laid  thus  broad  and  deep,  it  was  likewise  professed,  and  I  think 
to  a  great  degree  accepted  by  the  House,  that  in  all  the  details, 
in  all  the  modes  of  application,  the  rules  not  only  of  justice 
but  of  equity,  and  not  only  of  equity,  but,  within  every  reason- 
able limit,  even  of  indulgence,  should  be  followed. 

And  while  the  measure  was  thus  to  be  thorough  and  thus  to 
be  liberal,  there  were  two  other  great  characteristics  which, 
in  order  fully  to  realize  the  desire  we  entertain,  it  ought  to 
possess.  The  first  of  these,  sir,  is,  in  my  judgment,  that  the 
measure  ought  to  be  prompt  in  its  operation ;  for  it  is  not  for 
the  interest  of  those  with  whom  we  deal  any  more  than  it  is 
for  the  interest  of  the  country  that — I  will  not  say  the  Irish 
Church,  but — the  Irish  Establishment  should  be  subjected  to 
the  pain  of  a  lingering  death.    That  promptitude  of  operation 


288  GLADSTONE 

cannot  be  absolute;  it  must  necessarily  be  checked  by  con- 
siderations arising  out  of  the  vested  interests  with  which  we 
have  to  deal.  But  yet,  subject  to  those  rules  of  right  and  of 
prudence,  it  is  an  object  which  we  ought  to  have  in  view  in  the 
prosecution  of  our  work.  And  lastly,  sir,  there  is  another  char- 
acteristic which  perhaps  has  hardly  yet  been  mentioned  in 
debate,  but  which  appears  to  me  second  to  none  in  its  im- 
portance as  determining  the  value  of  the  provisions  of  a  meas- 
ure such  as  this.  It  is  that  the  legislation  which  we  now 
propose,  so  far  as  the  Irish  Church  is  concerned,  so  far  as  the 
subjects  of  religious  controversy  growing  out  of  legislative 
establishment  in  the  sister  island  are  concerned,  shall  be  final 
legislation — that  it  shall  put  away,  out  of  sight,  out  of  hearing, 
out  of  mind  if  it  may  be,  this  long-continued  controversy — 
a  controversy  almost  of  generations ;  and  that  even  should  it 
necessarily  happen,  as  commonly  happens  in  the  train  of  great 
statutes,  that  in  this  or  that  point  of  detail  it  may  require  to 
be  either  developed  or  amended,  yet  the  bill  which  we  propose 
shall  leave  no  question  of  principle  unsolved,  and  shall  permit 
every  man  who  takes  part  in  its  discussion  to  hope  that  when 
it  finally  departs  from  within  the  walls  of  Parliament  we  shall 
have  heard  the  very  last  and  latest  of  the  controversy  on  the 
Irish  Church. 

Subject,  then,  to  those  great  principles,  it  is  our  duty — and 
I  am  sure  it  will  be  recognized  to  be  our  duty — to  seek  every 
means  of  softening  the  transition  that  is  about  to  be  effected. 
We  must  not  disguise  from  ourselves  that  we  are  calling  upon 
persons,  upon  large  classes,  upon  individuals  entitled  to  great 
respect,  to  undergo  a  great  change  in  their  position  under  the 
direct  action  of  law.  And  every  motive  that  can  appeal  to  the 
feelings  of  men  of  honor  and  of  gentlemen  must  lead  us,  I 
think,  to  feel  it  a  duty  so  to  proceed  that  this  measure  shall 
carry  with  it  no  unnecessary  penalty  or  pain.  Sir,  I  am  bound 
to  say  that  I  think  many  of  those  who  may  be  expected  and 
considered  to  take  a  special  interest  in  this  measure  have  given 
us  in  this  respect  much  encouragement.  There  are  many  emi- 
nent persons  in  Ireland  connected  with  the  Church  who  have 
shown  a  great  disposition  to  meet  us  in  the  fair  field  of  dis- 
cussion, to  recognize  the  judgment  which  has  been  pronounced 
at  the  tribunal  of  the  nation,  and  to  endeavor  to  arrive  at  a 


THE    ESTABLISHED    CHURCH    IN    IRELAND  289 

just  and  equitable  settlement.  Nay  more,  even  upon  that 
Episcopal  bench  of  England,  from  which  oftentimes  no  sounds 
but  those  of  persistent  resistance  have  proceeded,  there  have 
been  signs  upon  very  recent  occasions  of  a  sense  that  it  is 
their  duty  to  look  to  the  future  interests  of  the  Church  as  well 
as  of  the  Establishment — of  the  religion  as  well  as  of  the 
property  with  which  it  is  endowed.  And  those  counsels  of 
moderation,  which  impose  on  us  corresponding  obligations,  are 
likely  to  prevail,  as  we  may  hope,  in  those  quarters  during  the 
coming  discussions.  In  Ireland  it  has,  indeed,  been  left  only  to 
one  single  prelate — the  Bishop  of  Down — among  the  Episcopal 
order  boldly  to  take  his  stand  on  behalf  of  the  principle  of 
settlement  and  accommodation ;  but  yet  I  cannot  but  hope  and 
believe  that  there  are  many,  even  among  his  Episcopal  breth- 
ren, who  are  by  no  means  disposed  to  prolong  this  hopeless 
struggle  or  to  make  demands  upon  Parliament,  as  terms  of 
surrender,  which  it  would  be  impossible  for  Parliament  to 
grant. 

And  now,  sir,  I  think  I  may  say  that  I  will  not  trouble  the 
committee  further  upon  general  considerations  connected  with 
this  measure,  but  will  at  once  proceed  to  use  the  best  efforts 
in  my  power  to  convey  its  character  and  all  its  leading  pro- 
visions to  the  minds  of  the  committee  as  nearly  as  I  can  in  the 
same  light  and  in  the  same  form  as  they  present  themselves 
to  the  minds  of  the  Government.  And  I  think,  sir,  searching 
for  a  key  by  which  I  may  suggest  to  the  gentlemen  who  hear 
me  the  best  and  most  likely  method  of  clearly  apprehending 
the  nature  of  the  provisions  of  the  bill  which  I  now  hold  in 
my  hand,  I  will  venture  to  direct  their  attention  to  the  points 
of  time — not,  indeed,  to  all  the  points  of  time,  because  some 
points  of  time  have  of  necessity  been  chosen  for  secondary 
and  minor  purposes — but  to  the  three  which  I  may  call  essen- 
tial points  of  time,  with  reference  to  which  I  will  endeavor  to 
state  the  provisions  and  operation  of  the  bill  so  that  the  com- 
mittee may  have,  as  far  as  depends  upon  me,  a  clear  under- 
standing of  the  manner  in  which  we  shall  endeavor  to  give 
effect  to  the  judgment  of  Parliament  and  of  the  country. 

The  first  of  these  points  of  time,  sir,  is  the  passing  of  the 
act,  and  I  will  first  describe  such  of  the  effects  of  the  act  as 
are  to  ensue  either  immediately  upon  its  passing,  or  in  the 
Vol.  II.— 19 


290 


GLADSTONE 


provisional  and  preparatory  period  which  will  immediately 
follow  its  passing.  The  second  of  these  points  of  time  is  a 
day  named  in  the  act.  At  present  it  stands  January  1,  1871, 
affording  an  interval  between  the  passing  of  the  act — should 
it,  as  I  trust  it  will,  become  law  during  the  present  session — 
of  about  eighteen  months  or  something  less  for  the  prepara- 
tory arrangements ;  but  with  regard  to  that  day  1  will  presume 
to  say  that  while  we  believe  it  is  distinctly  for  the  interest  of 
the  Church  itself  that  this  intermediate  period  should  not  be 
too  long,  and  while  it  is  the  absolute  limit  of  time  which  we 
have  thought  the  best,  yet  it  does  not  constitute  a  point  of  the 
measure  to  which,  in  case  the  limit  is  found  to  be  too  narrow, 
we  should  think  ourselves  irrevocably  pledged.  January  I, 
187 1,  therefore,  constitutes  the  second  point  of  time. 

The  third  point  of  time  is  one  which  we  cannot  define  as 
a  particular  date,  but  I  can  describe  it  by  stating  the  events 
which  will  bring  it  about.  It  is  the  point  of  time  at  which  it 
shall  be  decided  by  the  proper  authorities  that  all  the  sub- 
sidiary arrangements  connected  with  the  winding  up  of  the 
establishment  of  the  Irish  Church  have  been  completed,  and 
that  thenceforth  nothing  remains  to  be  done  except  to  apply 
the  property  of  the  Irish  Church,  which  will  then  have  dis- 
charged every  prior  claim  upon  it,  and  will  remain  free  for 
the  purposes  which  Parliament  may  think  fit  to  indicate. 

Begging  the  committee  to  bear  in  mind  these  three  points 
of  time,  I  will  now  proceed  to  describe  that  portion  of  the 
effects  of  the  measure  which  will  follow  immediately  upon  the 
passing  of  the  bill.  It  is  provided  in  almost  the  earliest  clauses 
that  the  present  Ecclesiastical  Commission,  which  was  ap- 
pointed for  the  purpose  of  administering  the  Church  Estab- 
lishment, and  not  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  it  to  an  end, 
shall  be  wound  up.  In  lieu  of  it  new  commissioners  will  be 
appointed,  whose  names  we  shall  at  a  proper  time  propose  and 
insert  in  the  bill.  We  think  very  highly  of  the  responsibility 
of  their  functions,  and  are  very  desirous  that  the  men  who 
may  be  proposed  to  discharge  those  functions  should  be  men 
to  whom  Parliament  shall  have  already,  for  the  purposes  of 
the  measure,  given  its  general  approval.  We  shall  propose  that 
this  commission  shall  endure  for  ten  years,  estimating,  as  far 
as  present  circumstances  permit  us  to  do,  that  this  will  be  a 


THE   ESTABLISHED   CHURCH    IN    IRELAND  291 

term  ample  and  sufficient  for  all  the  numerous  and  diversified 
purposes  they  will  have  to  prosecute.  In  this  commission, 
upon  the  passing  of  the  bill,  the  entire  property  of  the  Church 
in  Ireland  will  vest,  subject  to  life  interests.  The  committee 
will  at  once  see  the  importance  of  that  enactment.  As  far  as 
legal  and  technical  disendowment  is  concerned,  it  will  have 
occurred  on  the  day  when  the  measure  has  received  the  royal 
assent,  because  there  will  no  longer  remain  in  the  Church  of 
Ireland  any  title  whatever  to  its  property  other  than  that  of 
the  commissioners,  and  other  than  those  temporary  titles  which 
we  propose  that  Parliament  should  recognize.  And  all  the 
subsequent  arrangements  which  may  be  found  necessary  con- 
nected with  fabrics  or  with  any  other  points  of  the  question, 
will  be  technically  in  the  nature  of  a  reendowment,  and  will 
be  brought  by  me  separately  under  your  consideration. 

Then,  sir,  next  to  the  vesting  of  the  property,  I  have  to 
mention  the  provision  we  propose  to  make  for  the  government 
and  management  of  the  Church  during  this  intermediate  period. 
Last  year  we  proposed  and  passed  through  this  House  a  bill 
which  suspended  every  appointment  in  Ireland  from  the  day 
of  its  falling  vacant,  and  we  trusted  entirely  to  collateral  and 
subsidiary  provisions  of  the  law  to  make  a  supply  for  the  time 
being  of  such  assistance  as  might  be  necessary  for  the  actual 
discharge  of  duties  until  Parliament  should  give  its  further 
judgment.  Now,  sir,  it  appears  to  be  plain  on  the  one  hand 
that  those  provisions,  which  I  think  were  very  well  adapted  to 
the  object  we  had  in  view  last  year  of  reserving  the  whole 
matter  for  the  further  judgment  of  Parliament,  are  not  so  well 
adapted  to  the  purpose  we  now  have  in  view — that  is,  to  apply 
definite  legislation  to  the  determination  of  the  whole  question. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  appears  to  us  to  be  equally  indisputable 
that  there  is  one  thing  which  we  could  not  consistently  or 
properly  allow  to  be  done  during  this  intermediate  period.  We 
could  not  properly  allow  after  the  passing  of  the  act  the  crea- 
tion of  new  vested  interests  for  life.  We  have  therefore  en- 
deavored to  steer  as  fairly  as  we  can  between  these  difficulties ; 
on  the  one  side  proposing  not  to  be  parties  to  the  creation  of 
new  vested  interests,  which  I  think  everyone  will  see  would 
from  our  point  of  view  be  highly  inconsistent,  and  on  the  other 
side  being  equally  anxious  that  the  Irish  Church,  at  a  period 


292 


GLADSTONE 


when  all  its  ministers  and  members  will  be  called  upon  to  ex- 
ert themselves  to  the  utmost  in  preparing  for  the  future,  should 
not  be  subjected  to  the  disadvantage  of  a  crippled  ecclesiastical 
organization. 

What  we  therefore  propose  is,  that  appointments  may  be 
made,  generally  speaking,  to  the  spiritual  offices  without  in- 
vesting the  person  invested  with  a  freehold ;  that  he  may 
receive  during  the  interval  the  income  as  nearly  as  it  can  be 
calculated  which  he  would  have  received  if  he  had  taken  the 
freehold  in  the  ordinary  course,  but  that  his  title  to  it  shall 
terminate  when  the  provisional  period  is  at  an  end,  and  when 
the  links  which  connect  the  Establishment  with  the  Church 
are  finally  broken.  With  respect,  in  particular,  to  Episcopal 
appointments,  the  provision  we  propose  is  as  follows :  We  think 
it  is  very  desirable  after  once  the  statute  shall  have  passed  for 
disestablishing  the  Church,  to  separate  the  Crown  from  the  ex- 
ercise of  its  old  prerogative  within  the  Church.  We,  there- 
fore, propose  that  Episcopal  appointments  may  be  made  by 
the  Crown,  but  only  on  the  prayer  of  the  bishops  themselves 
of  the  provinces  of  Ireland  to  consecrate  a  particular  person 
to  a  vacancy.  Such  appointment,  if  made,  will  carry  with  it 
no  vested  interest,  nor  will  it  carry  with  it  any  right  of  peerage. 
The  Irish  Church  being  engaged  in  perfecting  its  organization 
for  the  future  will  probably  not  run  the  risk  of  having  its  sees 
and  rectories  vacant,  but  will  have,  so  to  speak,  a  staff  fully 
adequate  to  deal  with  the  coming  contingency. 

With  respect  to  the  exercise  of  Crown  patronage  as  to  liv- 
ings, our  view  is  this — while  we  take  it  for  granted  that  at 
any  rate  as  a  general  rule  these  livings  would  be  filled  up  in 
the  interval,  they  would  be  filled  up  on  the  same  footing  as 
bishoprics.  In  regard  to  the  temporalities  the  disposition  of 
the  present  advisers  of  the  Crown,  in  making  appointments 
wherever  they  have  by  law  a  right  of  patronage,  would  be  to 
be  guided  within  the  limits  of  reason  by  the  advice  and  recom- 
mendation of  the  ecclesiastical  authorities.  I  think  that  is  all 
I  need  say  as  regards  the  intermediate  system  that  we  shall 
now  propose  in  lieu  of  the  suspensory  clauses  of  the  bill  of 
last  year,  except  that  in  one  point  they  would  correspond  more 
strictly  with  the  provisions  of  the  bill — namely,  in  this,  that 
the  commissioners  would  be  inhibited  from  laying  out  money 


THE   ESTABLISHED   CHURCH    IN   IRELAND  293 

for  permanent  purposes,  such  as  the  building  of  new  churches, 
during  the  interval,  and  would  only  be  authorized  to  expend 
money  for  the  purpose  of  substantial  repairs,  for  the  fulfil- 
ment of  engagements  actually  entered  into,  and  for  the  neces- 
sary charges  for  the  performance  of  divine  worship  in  the  same 
manner  as  heretofore.  So  much  for  the  scheme  in  relation  to 
suspensory  clauses. 

The  next  important  enactment  which  will  take  effect  im- 
mediately on  the  passing  of  the  bill  is  this.  It  is  well  known 
to  the  committee  that  certain  disabilities  affect  the  collective 
action  of  the  clergy,  and  although  the  Convocations  of  Eng- 
land sit  and  have  just  been  sitting,  yet  it  is  not  in  their  power 
to  proceed  either  to  pass,  or  even  to  discuss  with  a  view  of 
passing,  any  canon,  or  regulation  in  the  nature  of  a  canon,  with- 
out the  assent  of  the  Crown.  In  Ireland  the  case  is  different, 
and  more  adverse  to  the  action  of  the  Church,  for  there  the  Con- 
vocation has  in  point  of  fact  never  acted  at  all,  excepting  upon 
some  very  few  occasions  which  may  be  specially  pointed  out, 
and  the  latest  of  those  occasions,  if  I  remember  right,  was  a 
century  and  a  half,  if  not  fully  two  centuries  ago.  But  besides 
the  total  disuse  of  that  ecclesiastical  machinery,  and  the  difficulty 
in  which  the  Crown  is  placed  when  it  is  called  upon  to  revive  or 
be  a  party  to  the  revival  of  that  which  has  never  worked  at  all 
for  two  hundred  years,  and  with  respect  to  the  working  rules 
of  which  there  are,  even  among  lawyers,  very  grave  doubts, 
there  are  in  Ireland  special  provisions  of  the  law  called  the  Con- 
vention Act,  which,  though  passed  for  purely  political  purposes, 
have  the  effect  of  preventing  the  clergy  and  laity  of  the  Church 
from  meeting  in  any  general  assembly.  It  is  understood,  I  be- 
lieve, that  the  clergy  and  laity  of  a  parish  may  meet,  but  that  the 
Church  at  large  is  incapacitated  from  meeting. 

Now,  it  will,  I  presume,  be  deemed  on  both  sides  of  the 
House  to  be  obviously  just  and  necessary  that  all  disabilities 
whatsoever  which  in  any  manner  fetter  the  action  of  the  Church 
with  reference  to  legislation  for  the  future — and  when  I  speak 
of  legislation,  I  mean  private  legislation  with  respect  to  mak- 
ing voluntary  contracts  and  regulations — ought,  in  passing  a 
Disestablishment  Act,  to  be  at  once  and  entirely  swept  away. 
When  I  say  that,  let  it  not  be  supposed  I  intend  to  insinuate 
any  opinion  to  the  effect  that  such  a  measure  either  is  likely 


294  GLADSTONE 

to  cause  or  ought  to  be  desired  to  cause  a  religious  or  spiritual 
separation  between  the  Church  of  Ireland  and  the  Church  of 
England.  The  words  of  this  measure  have  been  carefully  con- 
sidered in  reference  to  the  Act  of  Union,  so  as  to  limit,  as  far 
as  lies  in  our  power,  their  repealing  force  to  the  establishment 
of  those  Churches,  and  we  have  been  very  desirous  to  do  noth- 
ing which  could  possibly  be  held  to  interfere  with  their  ecclesi- 
astical relationship.  At  a  later  period  I  shall  have  to  state  to 
the  committee  what  we  have  thought  it  our  duty  to  propose, 
in  order  to  prevent  any  kind  of  shock  to  their  internal  condi- 
tion. But  of  this  I  am  persuaded,  that  the  best  friends  of 
religious  union  between  the  disestablished  Church  in  Ireland 
and  the  Established  Church  in  England  will  be  those  who  most 
completely  assert  the  liberty  of  the  former  to  take  its  own 
course.  Were  we  to  attempt  to  apply  to  them  constraint  even 
in  the  faintest  and  feeblest  form,  for  the  purpose  of  seeking 
to  secure  their  union,  we  should,  I  believe,  engender  reaction, 
even  if  such  a  proceeding  were  not  open  to  the  more  palpable 
and  obvious  objection  that,  considering  the  general  scope  of 
our  bill,  it  would  be  totally  and  radically  unjust. 

These,  I  think,  are  the  positive  and  most  important  pro- 
visions which  we  propose  as  provisions  which  must  take  effect 
simultaneously  with  the  passing  of  the  bill.  There  is,  however, 
another  provision,  for  the  operation  of  which  we  cannot  pre- 
cisely fix  a  time,  because  it  does  not  depend  altogether  on  us, 
but  which  this  appears  to  me  to  be  the  proper  place  to  men- 
tion. Inasmuch  as  there  must  necessarily  grow  out  of  the 
present  position  of  the  Church  in  Ireland,  its  property,  and 
arrangements,  a  number  of  measures  that  in  winding  up  this 
great  system  will  have  to  be  considered  and  discussed  between 
some  authority  on  the  part  of  the  State  and  some  authority 
on  the  part  of  the  Church,  the  course  which  we  propose  to 
Parliament  to  take  is  this:  We  presume  that  during  the  in- 
terval which  the  bill  will  create  after  the  disabilities  are  re- 
moved, the  bishops,  clergy,  and  laity  of  the  Church  of  Ireland 
will  proceed  to  constitute  for  themselves,  in  the  same  manner 
as  other  religious  communities  have  done,  something  in  the 
nature  of  a  governing  body.  We  therefore  take  by  this  meas- 
ure power  to  Her  Majesty  in  Council — not  to  create  such  a 
body,  but  to  recognize  it  when  created,  and  we  seek  to  avoid 


THE   ESTABLISHED   CHURCH    IN   IRELAND  295 

making  Her  Majesty  the  judge,  either  directly  or  by  implica- 
tion, whether  this  body  is  or  is  not  for  all  purposes  created 
wisely  and  well.  But  in  the  enacting  words  of  the  bill  we 
should  direct  the  attention  of  the  Crown  solely  to  one  point 
— that  it  must  be  a  representative  body,  representative  alike  of 
the  bishops,  clergy,  and  laity.  In  point  of  fact,  Her  Majesty's 
advisers  would  have  to  act  simply  as  a  jury,  and  to  satisfy 
themselves  that  this  body  so  constituted,  according  to  the  will 
and  judgment  of  the  Church,  fulfilled  in  good  faith  the  char- 
acter of  a  representative  body.  Her  Majesty  would  then  recog- 
nize that  body  as  such,  and  it  would  become  incorporated  under 
the  provisions  of  the  act  for  the  purposes  which  I  shall  have 
presently  to  describe. 

Now,  the  committee  will  see  how  far  we  have  got.  We  have 
passed  our  provisions  through  the  intermediate  period,  and 
we  are  coming  to  the  day  fixed  in  the  act  for  the  principal  and 
final  provisions  of  the  bill  to  take  effect.  We  have  got  in 
operation  a  commission  which  is  to  be  the  organ  of  the  State 
in  giving  effect  to  the  whole  of  our  arrangements,  and  we 
have  given  time  and  every  facility  which  properly  belongs  to 
us,  not  for  bringing  into  operation,  but  for  permitting  to  come 
into  operation,  that  organ  which  we  presume  the  members  of 
the  Church  of  Ireland  will  appoint  in  order  to  transact  their 
share  of  the  complicated  business  which  will  remain  to  be 
transacted.  I  now  come  to  the  second  and  most  important 
period  of  time  which  stands  at  present  fixed  in  the  bill  as 
January  1,  1871.  On  that  day,  according  to  the  provisions  of 
the  bill,  the  union  created  by  act  of  Parliament  between  the 
Churches  of  England  and  Ireland  would  be  dissolved,  and 
"  the  said  Church  of  Ireland  hereafter  referred  to  as  '  the  said 
Church  '  " — I  am  now  quoting  the  bill — would  cease  to  be  es- 
tablished by  law.  There  would  be  at  the  same  time  a  saving 
clause  in  the  bill  to  prevent  its  having  any  effect  on  the  Act  of 
Union  other  than  that  which  is  thus  strictly  limited  and  de- 
fined. On  that  day  the  ecclesiastical  courts  in  Ireland  would 
be  abolished,  the  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  in  Ireland  would 
cease,  the  ecclesiastical  laws  in  Ireland  would  no  longer  bind 
by  any  authority  as  law,  the  rights  of  peerage  would  lapse  on 
the  part  of  the  bishops,  and  all  ecclesiastical  corporations  in 
that  country  would  be  dissolved. 


296 


GLADSTONE 


The  committee  is  well  aware  that  the  Church  itself  is  not  a 
corporation,  but  an  aggregate  of  corporations.  I  am,  I  be- 
lieve, strictly  accurate  in  saying  that  with  these  provisions  in 
operation  on  January  1,  1871,  the  work  of  the  disestablishment 
of  the  Irish  Church  would  be  legally  completed.  There  is,  at 
the  same  time,  a  point  of  great  importance,  which  I  think  this 
is  the  place  for  me  to  mention.  Though  we  feel  it  to  be  a 
necessary — and  it  will,  I  think,  be  admitted  by  the  House 
generally  to  be  necessary — part  of  such  a  plan  as  this  that  it 
should  at  once  put  an  end  to  the  force  and  authority  of  ec- 
clesiastical laws,  as  such,  in  Ireland,  yet  we  also  feel  that  it 
is  our  duty  not  unnecessarily  to  subject  that  religious  com- 
munion now  called  the  Irish  Established  Church  to  shocks 
and  inconveniences  with  respect  to  the  management  of  its  in- 
ternal affairs  not  required  by  the  scope  of  our  measure.  It 
is  not  our  desire  that  this  transition — this  great  political  transi- 
tion— should  be  attended  with  the  maximum,  but  rather  with 
the  minimum,  of  ecclesiastical  change.  Whatever  ecclesiastical 
change  is  made,  ought,  in  our  opinion,  to  be  the  result  of  the 
free  deliberate  will  of  the  members  of  the  Established  Church, 
and  not  of  the  shock  inconsiderately  imparted  by  crude  legis- 
lation to  its  machinery. 

We,  therefore,  propose  that  although  the  ecclesiastical  laws 
shall  lose  their  force  as  laws,  in  which  respect  they  have  a 
certain  relation  to  the  whole  community,  yet  they  shall  be 
understood  to  subsist  as  a  form  of  voluntary  contract,  which 
shall  continue  to  bind  together  the  bishops,  clergy,  and  laity 
now  constituting  the  Established  Church  until  and  unless  they 
shall  be  altered  by  the  voluntary  agency  of  the  governing  body 
which  the  members  of  that  communion  may  appoint.  In  this 
way  it  appears  to  us  that  this  great  launch — and  a  great  launch 
it  undoubtedly  is,  so  far  as  all  the  ecclesiastical  arrangements, 
properly  so  called,  are  concerned — will  be  effected  smoothly, 
and  I  am,  indeed,  very  conscious  that  it  is  desirable,  on  every 
ground  that  it  should  be  so,  for  there  will  be  quite  enough  to 
tax  the  energy,  the  prudence,  and  the  courage  of  the  members 
of  the  Church  of  Ireland  in  making  provision  for  the  great 
change  which  we  are  going  to  bring  about  in  its  internal  affairs. 
The  committee,  having  followed  me  thus  far,  will  have  per- 
ceived that  we  have  complete  technical  disendowment  on  the 


THE   ESTABLISHED   CHURCH   IN    IRELAND  2g7 

passing  of  the  act,  and  complete  and  actual  disestablishment  on 
the  day  to  be  named  in  the  act,  and  now  standing  for  January 
I,  1871. 

Next  comes  a  matter  on  which  I  fear  it  will  be  my  duty  to 
detain  the  committee  for  some  time — the  task  of  carrying  out 
all  those  special  arrangements,  by  means  of  which  the  interests 
of  the  parties  affected  by  this  great  change  will  have  to  be 
settled  and  adjusted  in  detail.  I  am  afraid  I  should,  perhaps, 
alarm  the  committee  were  I  to  state  how  numerous  those 
arrangements  are,  but  they  embrace  the  vested  interests  of 
incumbents — and  by  the  word  "  incumbent  "  I  wish  to  be  un- 
derstood as  meaning  a  bishop  or  a  dignitary  of  the  Church, 
as  well  as  a  clergyman  having  parochial  charge — the  vested 
interests  of  curates,  the  case  of  lay  and  minor  offices,  the  com- 
pensation for  advowsons;  the  provisions  to  be  adopted  with 
respect  to  private  endowments,  the  provisions  with  respect  to 
churches,  with  respect  to  glebe  houses,  graveyards,  all  of  those, 
of  course,  being  subject  to  the  life  interests  recognized  by  the 
bill.  There  are  the  arrangements  connected  with  the  winding- 
up  of  the  Rcgium  Donum,  the  arrangements  connected  with 
the  winding-up  of  Maynooth,  the  arrangements  for  dispos- 
ing of  the  tithe  commutation  rent-charge,  the  arrangements 
with  respect  to  the  large  class  of  property  affected  by  the 
property-purchase  clauses,  and  the  arrangements  connected 
with  the  sale  of  the  Church  lands  by  the  commissioners. 

Let  me  say  a  word  first  with  respect  to  that  which  is  the 
largest  of  all  these  subjects — namely,  the  case  of  the  vested 
interest  of  incumbents.  Now,  the  vested  interest  of  the  in- 
cumbent is  quite  distinct,  on  the  one  hand,  from  his  expectation 
of  promotion.  In  all  cases  of  the  abolition  of  establishments, 
be  they  civil  or  ecclesiastical,  I  am  afraid  that  expectation  is 
a  matter  into  which,  however  legitimate  it  may  be,  it  is  im- 
possible for  us  to  enter.  The  vested  interest  of  the  incumbent, 
then,  is  this — it  is  a  title  to  receive  a  certain  net  income  from 
the  property  of  the  Church,  I  say  from  the  property  of  the 
Church,  because  I  set  apart  receipts  from  pew-rents,  receipts 
from  fees,  receipts  from  other  casual  sources  with  which  it  is 
no  business  of  ours  to  deal.  The  vested  interest  with  which 
we  have  to  deal  is  the  right  of  the  incumbent  to  be  secured  in 
the  receipt  of  a  certain  annual  income  from  the  property  of 


298  GLADSTONE 

the  Church  in  consideration  of  the  discharge  of  certain  duties 
to  which  he  is  bound  as  the  equivalent  he  gives  for  that  in- 
come, and  subject  to  the  laws  by  which  he  is  bound  and  the 
religious  body  to  which  he  belongs.  Therefore  the  committee 
will  see  in  what  sense  it  is  true  that,  although  the  Church  at 
large,  and  the  congregations  at  large,  have  no  vested  interests, 
and  it  would  be  impossible  to  recognize  anything  of  the 
kind,  yet  both  the  Church  and  the  congregations  are  very 
largely  concerned  in  the  vested  interest  of  the  incumbent,  be- 
cause his  title  is  not  a  simple,  unconditional  title  to  a  certain 
payment  of  money,  but  it  is  a  title  to  a  payment  of  money  in 
consideration  of  duty.  In  the  performance  of  that  duty  the 
congregations  and  the  Church  are  deeply  concerned ;  and  I 
think  it  will  be  the  opinion  of  the  committee  that  it  would  be 
unjust  to  them  to  expose  them  to  unnecessary  disparagement 
by  worsening  the  conditions  under  which  they  now  stand  in 
reference  to  the  clergy. 

Such  is  the  vested  interest  of  the  clergy;  and  I  may  here 
say  that  although,  as  a  rule,  it  is  for  parents  to  set  examples 
to  children,  yet,  in  the  vicissitudes  of  human  affairs,  it  some- 
times happens  that  children  may  set  a  good  example  to  parents. 
It  has  happened  so  in  this  instance,  for  the  legislature  of  Can- 
ada, having  to  deal  with  a  case  undoubtedly  far  more  simple, 
far  less  difficult  and  complicated  than  ours,  yet,  notwithstand- 
ing, in  this  one  central  and  vital  subject — the  manner  of  deal- 
ing with  the  vested  interests  of  the  clergy  upon  whose  incomes 
it  was  legislating,  and  the  permanent  source  of  whose  incomes 
it  was  entirely  cutting  off — has  undoubtedly  proceeded  upon 
principles  which  appear  to  balance,  or  rather  to  maintain  very 
fairly  the  balance  established  between,  the  separate  interests 
of  the  clergy  and  the  general  interests  of  the  Church  to  which 
they  belong,  and  the  congregations  to  which  they  minister. 
Substantially,  and  after  allowing  for  necessary  differences  of 
expression,  we  think  the  basis  afforded  by  the  Canadian  meas- 
ure supplies  us  with  no  unsuitable  pattern  after  which  to  shape 
our  own  proceedings. 

Such  being  the  case,  I  will  briefly  describe  to  the  committee 
how  we  propose  to  deal  with  the  vested  interest  of  the  incum- 
bent. The  plan  will  be  this :  The  amount  of  income  to  which 
each  incumbent  is  entitled  will  be  ascertained.    It  will  be  made 


THE   ESTABLISHED   CHURCH    IN    IRELAND  299 

subject  to  deduction  for  the  curates  he  may  have  employed. 
That  I  will  further  explain  when  I  come  to  the  curate.  It  will 
be  made  payable,  in  the  case  of  each,  so  long  as  he  discharges 
the  duty.  And  then  there  will  be  a  provision  that  the  annuity 
itself  may  be  commuted  upon  the  basis  of  capitalizing  it  as 
an  annuity  for  life.  Therefore,  the  commutation,  taking  the 
rate  of  interest  at  three  and  one-half  per  cent.,  will  represent 
his  whole  interest  in  the  income  he  receives,  presuming  it  to 
last  for  life.  This  commutation  can  only  be  made  upon  the 
application  of  the  incumbent.  He  must  be  the  prime  mover 
in  bringing  it  about.  Upon  his  application  the  sum  of  money 
will  be  paid  to  that  which  I  shall  call,  for  shortness,  the  Church 
body,  but  it  will  be  paid  to  the  Church  body  subject  to  the  legal 
trust  of  discharging  the  obligation  or  covenant  which  we  had 
ourselves  to  discharge  to  the  incumbent — namely,  to  give  him 
the  annuity  in  full  so  long  as  he  discharged  the  duties.  The 
effect  of  that  plan  of  commutation  will  be  that,  by  means  of 
the  Church  body,  and  of  the  inducements  that  will  be  given 
to  arrangements  between  the  Church  body  and  the  incumbents, 
we,  the  State,  should  escape,  as  we  hope  and  believe,  at  a  very 
early  period  from  that  which  it  is  undoubtedly  not  desirable 
to  maintain  longer  than  is  absolutely  necessary — namely,  a 
direct  relation  of  administrator  and  recipient  between  the  or- 
gans of  the  State  and  the  individual  clergy  of  the  Church.  That 
is  the  nature  of  the  interest  which  the  State  possesses  in  com- 
mutation ;  and  although,  undoubtedly,  commutation  would  be 
an  arrangement  so  far  favorable  to  the  Church  collectively — 
and  the  very  same  thing  will  apply  totidem  verbis  to  the  Pres- 
byterians of  Ireland — as  enabling  the  Church  body  and  the  in- 
dividual to  adjust  their  relations  and  to  make  a  more  economical 
application  of  their  resources  than  would  be  possible  by  the 
maintenance  of  the  original  annuities,  yet  the  interest  of  the 
State  in  bringing  these  transactions  to  a  close  will  be  felt  amply 
to  justify  and  strongly  to  recommend  some  arrangement  of  the 
kind. 

Well,  that  is  the  mode  in  which  we  should  propose  to  pro- 
ceed with  respect  to  the  great  subject  of  life  interests.  These 
life  interests  are  in  truth  by  far  the  greatest — and,  indeed, 
much  greater  than  all  the  rest  put  together — of  the  demands 
upon  the  fund  of  the  Church  before  it  becomes  free  and  avail- 


3oo  GLADSTONE 

able  for  other  purposes.  I  wish,  however,  to  explain  what  I 
have  not  yet  stated — that  the  recognition  of  life  interests,  which 
would  be  conditional  as  regards  the  performance  of  the  duties 
that  are  now  the  equivalent  for  the  income,  would  be  uncon- 
ditional in  other  respects.  We  should  not  attempt  to  interfere, 
in  the  main,  with  the  position  of  the  clergyman  either  as  pro- 
prietor or  occupier  of  land.  In  many  cases,  indeed,  as  we  know, 
the  clergy  of  Ireland  do  farm  their  own  glebes.  In  many  cases 
they  let  land  from  year  to  year.  In  many  cases  the  land  is  let 
upon  short  leases;  and  although  it  would  be  desirable  if  we 
could  to  bring  the  clergy  to  give  up  the  position  of  landlord  as 
soon  as  possible,  we  do  not  propose  to  effect  this  result  by  any 
compulsory  enactment.  Commutation,  we  think,  will  offer  in- 
ducements which  will  be  sufficient  for  the  purpose ;  but,  speak- 
ing generally,  we  do  not  propose,  by  any  compulsory  provision 
in  the  bill  to  interfere  with  the  position  of  the  clergyman  in 
relation  to  any  part  of  his  freehold. 

There  is,  however,  one  exception  which  I  must  mention,  be- 
cause it  is  an  exception  which,  perhaps,  has  a  name  and  a  bulk, 
though  insignificant  in  every  other  respect.  It  is  the  tithe  com- 
mutation rent-charge.  We  propose  that  the  tithe  commutation 
rent-charge  shall  at  once  and  absolutely,  and  without  any  inter- 
vening life  interest,  vest  in  the  commission  under  the  act,  and 
the  reason  is  that  the  tithe  commutation  rent-charge,  with  the 
single  exception  of  a  certain  amount  of  fluctuation,  which,  of 
course,  is  rather  in  the  nature  of  an  inconvenience  than  a  con- 
venience to  the  clergyman,  is  in  every  other  respect  a  fixed  in- 
terest ;  and  inasmuch  as  it  is  very  desirable  immediately  to  put 
in  action  certain  arrangements  respecting  it,  we  propose  to  take 
it  at  once  into  the  hands  of  the  commissioners,  the  faith  of 
Parliament,  of  course,  being  pledged  to  the  payment  of  the 
whole  proceeds  which  the  clergyman  could  derive  from  it.  Be- 
sides that,  there  is  nother  very  small  exception  which  we  have 
thought  fit  to  make.  I  will  speak  by  and  by  of  the  case  of 
churches  which  are  in  use,  but  there  are  in  Ireland  cases  of 
churches  wholly  ruinous,  many  in  graveyards,  but  many  apart 
from  graveyards.  In  some  cases  the  freehold  may  be  in  the 
incumbent  of  the  parish.  We  propose  at  once  to  dispossess 
him  of  that  freehold.  It  may  be  desirable  that  these  sites  should 
be  disposed  of  either  by  throwing  them  into  the  burial-grounds 


THE   ESTABLISHED   CHURCH    IN    IRELAND  301 

or  in  some  other  manner,  but  there  can  be  no  advantage  in  keep- 
ing up  that  barren  freehold,  which  is  totally  unproductive  of 
practical  results  to  the  clergyman,  and  is  purely  incidental  to 
his  position  as  clergyman  of  a  Church  established  by  law. 

There  is  another  change  which  would  be  made  immediately 
upon  the  disestablishment  of  the  Church,  and  which  it  is  my 
duty  to  bring  specially  to  the  notice  of  the  committee,  although 
probably  the  view  of  the  committee  will  be  not  only  in  favor  of 
the  change,  but  is  likely  to  be  that  under  the  circumstances  of 
the  case  it  is  inevitable.  The  committee  is  aware  of  the  pecu- 
liar nature  of  the  title  of  an  Irish  bishop  to  sit  in  the  House  of 
Lords.  He  has  a  title  to  sit  there  for  life,  and  yet  it  is  an  inter- 
mittent title.  He  is  not  a  permanent  member  of  that  assembly, 
but  he  is  placed  in  a  certain  legal  rotation  which  brings  him 
there  for  a  session  and  then  dismisses  him,  in  the  case  of  the 
archbishop  for  one,  and  in  the  case  of  the  bishops  for  two  or 
three  sessions.  We  have  had  to  ask  ourselves  whether  it  is  de- 
sirable that  a  right  of  peerage  so  singular  in  its  character  and 
operation  should  continue  after  the  disestablishment  of  the 
Church.  I  own  that  it  is  not  without  some  regret  and  pain 
that  I  propose  a  provision  which  should  seem  in  the  slightest 
degree  to  convey  a  slight  or  disparagement  in  point  of  dignity 
to  individuals  who,  as  such,  I  believe  to  be  fully  and  amply 
worthy  of  the  honors  they  enjoy  in  the  House  of  Lords.  But 
the  anomaly  is  so  great,  and  then,  again,  it  is  so  obvious  that 
the  Irish  bishops  are  maintained  in  the  House  of  Lords  for  the 
very  purpose  of  representing  a  national  and  an  Established 
Church,  that — although  not  without  regret  as  far  as  the  indi- 
viduals are  concerned — I  think  we  cannot  hesitate  to  propose 
to  the  committee  that  these  peerages  should  lapse  with  the  dis- 
establishment of  the  Church.  It  is  because  this  proposal  forms 
a  qualification  to  the  broad  principle  I  have  laid  down  as  to  re- 
specting life  interests  in  their  integrity  that  I  have  been  so 
particular  in  calling  attention  to  it. 

Well,  now,  sir,  I  come  to  the  case  of  the  curates,  and  I  hope 
the  committee  will  not  be  shocked  at  my  endeavoring  to  state 
clearly  the  nature  of  the  provisions  we  propose  with  regard  to 
this  most  meritorious  class  of  men,  because,  wearisome  as  it 
must  necessarily  be  to  you  to  pass  through  such  a  wilderness  of 
details,  yet  there  are  many  hundreds  of  persons  for  whom  this 


3o2  GLADSTONE 

question  may  be,  or  at  least  is  believed  by  them  to  be,  a  matter 
of  life  or  death,  and  who  wait  with  the  keenest  anxiety  to  know 
the  view  that  has  been  taken  of  their  case.  In  speaking  of  the 
case  of  curates,  I  do  not  speak  simply  of  those  clergymen  who 
have  entered  into  transitory  and  fluctuating  engagements  for 
a  week,  month,  or  other  short  period.  I  speak  of  those  who 
are  regularly  enlisted  in  the  service  of  the  Church  as  curates, 
and,  in  point  of  fact,  are  bound  to  that  office  by  a  long  life- 
tenure,  unless,  as  they  hope  may  at  some  time  happen,  they 
should  be  presented  to  benefices.  I  speak  of  those  who  in  a 
popular  sense  I  may  venture  to  call  the  permanent  curates  of 
the  Irish  Church.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  difficulty  in  dealing 
with  this  class  of  persons,  but  the  committee  will  observe  that 
I  am  not  now  asking  them  to  invade  the  public  or  the  national 
fund  for  the  purpose  of  compensation.  In  the  main  I  am  only 
studying  to  secure  the  due  application  to  the  benefit  of  the 
curate  of  those  deductions  which  we  have  already  made  from 
the  income  of  the  incumbent,  when  proceeding  to  calculate  his 
annuity  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  his  vested  interest.  We 
propose  to  deal  with  the  curates  as  follows :  The  commissioners 
are  to  determine  who  are  curates  permanently  employed.  In 
some  cases  the  form  of  the  instrument  under  which  they  are 
employed  will  adequately  determine  this  point,  but  in  others 
it  would  not.  We  propose  to  leave  the  matter  to  the  commis- 
sioners, giving  also  to  the  incumbent  the  power  of  objecting 
that  A.  B.,  his  curate,  was  not  permanently  employed.  It  is 
required,  also,  in  order  to  enable  the  curate  to  take  advantage 
of  the  provision  on  this  point,  that  he  should  have  been  em- 
ployed on  January  i,  1869,  and  that  he  continue  to  be  employed 
on  January  1,  1871,  or  that,  if  he  has  ceased  to  be  employed,  the 
discontinuance  of  his  employment  shall  be  due  to  some  cause 
other  than  his  own  free  choice  or  misconduct.  That  will  be 
the  test.  Being  so  eligible,  he  would,  prima  facie,  be  entitled 
to  have  the  interest  in  his  curacy  calculated  for  life,  he  would 
have  a  vested  interest  in  it  in  the  same  way  as  the  incumbent 
has  in  the  income  of  his  living  or  bishopric,  and  he  would  be 
entitled  to  have  it  commuted  upon  the  same  terms.  He  would 
also  be  subjected  to  the  corresponding  obligation  to  that  which 
would  be  imposed  on  the  incumbent — that  is  to  say,  he  would 
be  bound  to  continue  the  duties  he  now  performs  until  he  ef- 


THE   ESTABLISHED   CHURCH    IN    IRELAND  303 

fects  an  arrangement  for  commutation ;  he  would  be  bound  to 
render  the  same  services  to  the  incumbent  that  he  formerly  did, 
or  if  he  cease  to  render  them,  in  order  to  maintain  his  quali- 
fication, that  cessation  must  be  due  to  some  other  cause  than 
his  own  misconduct  or  free  choice. 

With  regard  to  the  curates  of  a  more  transitory  class,  we 
have  a  provision  in  the  bill  which  appears  to  us  a  fair  analogy 
to  a  similar  provision  in  the  Civil  Service  Superannuation  Acts, 
according  to  which  gratuities  may  be  awarded  in  consequence 
of  disadvantages  they  may  have  sustained.  But  that  is  a  matter 
of  minor  importance  and  minute  detail  upon  which  I  will  not  at 
present  detain  the  committee. 

I  come  now  to  the  arrangements  I  shall  have  to  make  with 
regard  to  private  endowments — and  here  it  would  be  as  well  to 
refer  to  a  misunderstanding  that  sprung  up  in  the  course  of 
last  session  in  consequence  of  an  expression  used  by  me.  I  said 
in  the  course  of  discussion  on  the  Irish  Church  that  not  less 
than  three-fifths,  as  far  as  I  could  reckon,  of  the  whole  money 
value  of  the  property  of  the  Church  would  be  given  back  to 
the  Church  itself  or  to  its  members  in  any  form  of  disestab- 
lishment that  Parliament  would  probably  agree  to.  It  was  not 
generally  observed  how  important  a  part  of  that  statement  were 
the  words  "  or  its  members,"  which  I  pronounced  with  some 
emphasis.  What  the  Church  will  receive  under  the  plan  of  the 
Government  I  will  endeavor  to  separate  from  what  its  mem- 
bers will  receive.  No  doubt  its  members  will  receive  compensa- 
tion, and  the  congregations  of  the  Church  have  a  very  real 
interest,  if  not  a  vested  interest,  in  those  compensations.  But 
with  regard  to  the  Church  itself,  the  proposal  of  the  Govern- 
ment would  be  to  convey  to  it  nothing  in  the  shape  of  what 
I  may  call  marketable  property — I  will  by  and  by  explain  what 
I  mean  by  that  phrase — with  the  exception  of  private  endow- 
ments which  it  may  have  received. 

I  beg  the  committee  not  to  come  prematurely  to  a  conclusion 
as  to  the  meaning  of  those  words,  but  I  think  I  shall  be  able  to 
make  them  good,  and  to  explain  them  in  the  course  of  what  I 
am  now  going  to  say.  With  respect  to  these  private  endow- 
ments we  do  not  propose  that  the  enactments  relating  to  them 
should  embrace  churches  or  glebe  houses,  because  these  are 
dealt  with  on  grounds  of  their  own,  which  take  them  out  of 


3°4 


GLADSTONE 


this  category.  But  there  are  private  endowments  in  the  Irish 
Church,  and  although  they  do  not  appear  to  be  very  large  in 
amount  they  are  various  in  form — such  as  endowments  in  glebe 
lands,  in  tithes,  and  in  money.  And  the  definition  of  private 
endowments  we  think  it  fair  to  take  is  this :  In  the  first  place, 
it  must  be  money  which  has  been  contributed  from  private 
sources.  It  may  have  been  given  in  a  public  character,  as  for 
example  in  the  case  of  Primate  Boulter  and  Primate  Robinson ; 
but  though  given  by  persons  holding  a  public  position,  its  hav- 
ing been  given  in  a  private  capacity  evidently  constitutes  it  a 
private  endowment.  But  we  limit  it  by  date,  and  the  date  we 
have  chosen  to  propose  to  Parliament  for  limitation  is  the  year 
1660 — the  year  of  the  Restoration. 

The  reason  that  has  recommended  the  date  to  us  is  the  fact 
that  the  Restoration  was  really  the  period  at  which  the  Church 
of  Ireland — the  Reformed  or  Protestant  Church  of  Ireland — as- 
sumed its  present  legislative  shape  and  character.  Before  the 
wars  of  Charles  I,  in  all  the  three  Churches  of  the  three  king- 
doms there  were  more  or  less  the  different  elements  that  finally 
developed  themselves  into  different  forms  of  Protestantism,  and 
these  were  in  conflict  together  within  the  bosom  of  the  Na- 
tional Church.  In  England  we  had  Puritanism  and  Anglicanism 
struggling  for  ascendancy  within  the  pale  of  the  Church,  as  we 
are  told  in  Scripture  that  Jacob  and  Esau  struggled  together 
within  the  womb  of  their  mother.  In  Scotland  there  was  the 
same  struggle,  with  the  exception  that  there  Presbyterian  was 
really  in  the  ascendancy.  In  Ireland  Presbyterianism  and  Epis- 
copacy were  struggling  powerfully  together  during  the  reigns 
of  James  I  and  Charles  I.  It  may  not  be  known  to  all  who  hear 
me — though  it  ought  to  be  known,  and  it  tends  strongly  to  jus- 
tify us  in  not  going  beyond  the  Restoration — that  the  very 
confession,  the  doctrinal  confession  of  the  Irish  Church  in  the 
reigns  of  James  I  and  Charles  I  was  not  the  same  as  that  in  Eng- 
land. It  was  modelled  by  Archbishop  Usher  upon  the  highest 
Calvinistic  frame,  and  it  included  nine  articles  which  composed 
a  document  well  known  in  England  under  the  name  of  the  Lam- 
beth Articles,  drawn  up  in  the  latter  end  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury. I  hope  I  shall  not  wound  the  feelings  of  any  man  when 
I  say  that  it  was  one  of  the  most  formidable  collections  of  the- 
ology which  ever  proceeded  from  the  pen  of  a  divine  in  the 


THE   ESTABLISHED   CHURCH    IN    IRELAND  3o5 

whole  history  of  Christendom.  It  was  different  in  spirit  to  the 
Thirty-nine  Articles  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  the  consti- 
tution of  the  Irish  Church  was  practically  different.  Presby- 
terianism  was  not  formally  or  legally  recognized,  but  it  had 
a  real  or  practical  recognition  in  Ulster,  which  was  occupied 
by  Scotch  rather  than  English  colonists,  who  were  for  the  most 
part  Presbyterians.  I  find  no  proof  that  when  a  Presbyterian 
minister  went  over  from  Scotland  to  Ireland  he  was  obliged  to 
submit  to  reordination,  and  if  a  bishop  had  to  go  into  a  place 
where  ordination  was  going  on,  he  was  never  allowed,  as  far  as 
I  can  learn,  in  the  case  of  a  man  of  strong  Presbyterian  opinions, 
to  assert  his  Episcopal  character  and  his  exclusive  power  of 
ordination,  but  had  to  beg  for  admission  into  the  room  where 
the  ordination  was  going  on.  Even  if  we  could  trace  the  private 
endowments  back  to  so  remote  a  period,  the  first  effect  would 
be  to  raise  a  strong  controversy  between  the  friends  of  Pres- 
bytery and  Episcopacy. 

When  we  come  to  the  time  of  Charles  II,  at  which  period 
the  ecclesiastical  condition  both  of  England  and  Ireland  be- 
came distinct,  we  ask  you,  then,  to  distinguish  private  and  pub- 
lic endowments,  because  we  know  historically  that  a  man,  at  any 
rate,  knew  what  he  was  doing,  and  the  fair  presumption  arises 
that  if  he  gave  his  money  to  the  Church,  it  was  for  the  support 
of  that  form  of  religion  to  which  it  is  now  applied.  That  will 
be  the  definition  we  propose  to  take  with  respect  to  private  en- 
dowments. They  are  not  numerous  in  the  Church  of  Ireland, 
but  they  are  of  extraordinary  interest.  Take  the  case  of  the 
parish  of  Laracor,  the  parish  of  which  Swift  was  vicar  before 
he  was  transferred  to  the  deanery  of  St.  Patrick's.  When  he 
went  into  it,  Laracor  had  a  glebe  house  and  one  acre.  He  left 
it  with  a  glebe  house  and  twenty  acres.  He  improved  and 
decorated  it  in  many  ways.  It  is  sad  and  melancholy  to  learn, 
if  only  we  look  upon  this  place  as  one  of  the  memorials  of  so 
extraordinary  a  man,  that  many  of  the  embellishments,  or  what 
our  Scotch  friends  would  call  "  amenities  "  of  the  glebe  which 
grew  up  under  his  fostering  hand  have  since  been  effaced.  He 
endowed  the  vicarage  with  certain  tithes  which  he  had  pur- 
chased for  the  purpose ;  and  I  doubt  whether  it  is  generally 
very  well  known  that  a  curious  question  arises  on  this  bequest, 
because  a  portion  of  his  property — by  the  by,  consisting,  I  be- 
Voi..  II.— 20 


306 


GLADSTONE 


lieve,  of  those  very  tithes — was  left  by  him  for  what  he  calls — 
I  never  knew  the  term  to  be  used  elsewhere — "  the  Episcopal 
religion  established  in  Ireland."  But  that  extraordinary  man, 
even  at  the  time  when  he  wrote  that  the  Irish  Catholics  were 
so  down-trodden  and  insignificant  that  no  possible  change  could 
ever  bring  them  into  a  position  of  importance,  appears  to  have 
foreseen  the  day  when  the  ecclesiastical  arrangements  of  Ire- 
land would  be  called  to  account ;  because,  not  satisfied  with 
leaving  the  property  to  maintain  the  Episcopal  religion  he  pro- 
ceeds to  provide  for  the  day  when  that  Episcopal  religion  might 
be  disestablished,  and  be  no  longer  the  national  religion  of  the 
country.  Apparently  by  some  secret  intimation  he  foresaw  the 
shortness  of  its  existence  as  an  Establishment,  for  he  left  the 
property  subject  to  a  condition  that  in  such  case  it  should  be 
administered  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor. 

The  value  of  the  private  endowments,  as  far  as  we  have  been 
able  to  ascertain,  is  not  more  than  half-a-million,  between  land- 
tithes  and  money.  It  is  very  uncertain.  I  may  say  here  that  I 
think  the  committee  will  recognize  the  fairness  of  a  step  which 
we  propose  to  take.  There  may  be  a  good  deal  of  legal  research 
and  legal  expenditure  requisite  in  order  to  obtain  evidence  upon 
those  titles.  We  propose,  therefore,  to  authorize  the  commis- 
sioners to  allow  the  parties  reasonable  expenses  in  cases  where 
they  think  those  expenses  have  been  fairly  undertaken  in  ascer- 
taining the  title  and  establishing  the  fact  of  private  endowments. 
I  now  come  to  the  churches.  This  is  the  way  in  which  we  pro- 
pose to  deal  with  churches.  When  I  say  churches,  I  mean 
principally — indeed,  I  may  say  exclusively — churches  which 
are  in  use  by  the  present  Established  Church.  Now,  it  is  quite 
evident  that  churches  cost  a  great  deal  of  money  to  erect,  but 
that  when  erected  they  do  not  properly  fall  within  the  category 
of  "  marketable  property."  Buyers  will  not  easily  be  found, 
and  in  Ireland,  as  far  as  I  can  understand,  there  is  no  great  in- 
sufficiency of  churches — in  the  Establishment  there  is  a  pro- 
fusion— among  the  Presbyterians  or  the  Roman  Catholics.  Be 
that  as  it  may — whether  founded  on  feeling  or  the  inconverti- 
bility of  churches  into  marketable  property — we  have  no  doubt 
whatever  that,  subject  always  to  the  general  though  not  legal 
obligation  of  applying  them  to  religious  purposes,  we  propose 
that  the  churches  of  Ireland  should  be  handed  over  to  the  gov- 


THE   ESTABLISHED   CHURCH    IN    IRELAND  307 

erning  body  of  the  disestablished  Church  with  as  little  difficulty, 
impediment,  or  embarrassment  as  possible. 

What  we  propose,  therefore,  is,  that  within  the  trust  those 
churches  may  be  taken  on  the  simple  declaration  of  that  body 
that  it  is  their  intention  to  take  and  maintain  them  for  the  pur- 
poses of  worship,  or  else  to  take  them  down,  which  they  wish  to 
do  in  certain  cases,  where  it  is  expedient  for  the  purpose  of 
substituting  for  them  new  churches,  which  the  governing  body 
may  desire  to  build,  and  which  may  be  more  convenient,  espe- 
cially having  reference  to  the  altered  temporal  circumstances 
of  their  community.  Under  these  circumstances,  I  have  no 
doubt  a  great  number  of  these  churches  will  be  taken  over  by 
the  governing  body  of  the  disestablished  Church  ;  but,  whether 
that  be  so  or  not,  it  is  our  duty  to  make  provision  for  the  acci- 
dental case  of  churches  being  refused.  If  churches  be  not  taken 
over  by  the  governing  body,  we  are  not  led  to  think  that  it  would 
be  expedient  for  Parliament  to  contemplate  their  actual  trans- 
fer, under  operation  of  law,  to  any  other  religious  community ; 
nor  are  we  led  to  believe  that  would  be  generally  desired  by  any 
other  partv.  We,  therefore,  take  a  general  power  to  enable  the 
commissioners  to  dispose  of  the  site,  or  of  the  building  itself, 
or,  more  properly,  its  materials. 

Now,  there  is  a  case  on  which  I  should  say  a  few  words,  be- 
cause I  think  it  is  one  in  which  equity  requires  or  recommends 
that  we  should  make  a  small  allowance  from  the  ecclesiastical 
fund  to  the  disestablished  Church.  Unhappily,  in  Ireland  there 
are  not  copiously  scattered,  as  in  England,  churches  which  are 
beautiful  and  wonderful  specimens  of  art,  and  which  form  one 
of  the  richest  portions  of  our  national  treasury ;  but  here  and 
there  in  Ireland  there  are  churches  of  that  class.  I  need  only 
mention  one  which  has  been  before  the  public  in  a  peculiar  man- 
ner of  late  years — the  Church  of  St.  Patrick  in  Dublin.  We 
cannot  but  admit  these  two  propositions :  In  the  first  place,  that 
it  is  desirable  that  such  churches  should  be  maintained,  that  it 
would  not  be  desirable  for  the  credit  or  character  of  the  coun- 
try that  they  should  fall  into  decay ;  and  the  second  proposition 
is  that  the  maintenance  of  such  fabrics  is  more  than  we  have  a 
right  to  expect  by  means  of  casual  voluntary  contributions.  If 
such  a  congregation,  founded  on  voluntary  bases,  should  think 
to  erect  for  itself  such  a  church  as  St,  Patrick's  or  Westminster 


3o8 


GLADSTONE 


Abbey,  it  will  be  for  them  to  be  responsible  for  its  maintenance ; 
but,  with  respect  to  those  fabrics  which  have  been  erected  and 
have  been  held  under  the  expectation  of  permanent  maintenance, 
we  propose — subject  to  very  careful  limitations,  for  we  confine 
the  number  to  twelve  churches — that  the  commissioners  should 
be  authorized,  where  it  is  desirable  that  a  church  should  be 
maintained  as  a  national  monument,  and  where  it  is  found  that 
the  maintenance  would  be  too  heavy  for  a  voluntary  congrega- 
tion, to  allow  a  moderate  sum  for  its  maintenance  to  those  to 
whom  it  is  given  up.  This  is  not  a  very  large  provision,  but 
it  is  one  recommended  by  the  distinct  equity  of  the  case. 

I  will  say  one  word  with  regard  to  churches  which  are  not 
in  use  in  Ireland.  Some  of  these  national  monuments  are  of  a 
curious  and  interesting  character ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  churches  at  Glendalough,  they  are  not  suited  or 
adapted  to  public  worship.  Therefore,  we  propose  that  such 
churches  should  be  handed  over  to  the  Board  of  Works,  with  an 
allocation  of  funds  sufficient  for  their  due  and  becoming  pres- 
ervation. In  other  cases  where  there  are  remains  of  churches 
and  sites  of  churches,  they  might  form  burial-grounds,  or  be 
taken  up  and  restored  by  one  of  the  religious  communities  of 
the  country.  Though  their  value  may  be  insignificant,  we  ask 
Parliament  to  give  power  to  the  commissioners  to  dispose  of 
them  to  those  communities. 

The  next  question,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  like  that  of  the  curates, 
is  beset  with  complications.  It  is  one  which  was  before  the 
public  last  year,  and  with  respect  to  it  my  views  are  very  much 
qualified,  or,  indeed,  I  may  say  almost  overturned,  by  the  state 
of  facts  that  since  then  we  have  become  more  accurately  ac- 
quainted with.  It  is  the  case  of  the  glebe  houses ;  and  I  wish 
when  I  speak  of  them  to  include  the  see  houses,  as  I  included 
the  bishops  when  I  spoke  of  the  incumbents,  because,  in  all  es- 
sential respects,  they  stand  on  the  same  footing.  With  respect 
to  the  glebe  houses,  it  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  analyze  the 
sources  from  which  the  means  of  building  them  have  pro- 
ceeded. Parliamentary  grants  have  had  a  share  of  it ;  and 
private  endowments  have  had  a  share  of  it ;  but  the  greater 
part  of  those  funds  has  hitherto  been  supplied  by  charges  de- 
ducted from  the  incomes  of  the  clergy  under  Acts  of  Parlia- 
ment, enabling  them  to  charge  their  successors  as  well  as  them- 


THE   ESTABLISHED   CHURCH    IN    IRELAND  309 

selves.  Now,  a  nice  and  knotty  question  arises,  as  to  whether 
money  so  obtained  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  public  or  a  private 
endowment.  I  can  imagine  a  whole  night  spent  in  the  discus- 
sion of  that  point.  The  greatest  difficulties  have  arisen  upon 
this  point,  and  I  myself  have  inclined  sometimes  one  way  and 
sometimes  another  with  reference  to  it.  As,  in  the  case  of  the 
churches,  there  are  some  men  of  a  practical  turn  of  mind,  not 
perhaps  open  much  on  the  side  of  their  imagination,  whose 
minds  were  materially  influenced  by  the  observation  that 
churches  were  not  a  marketable  property,  so  the  same  feeling 
obtains  as  a  general  rule  with  respect  to  glebe  houses,  the  value 
of  which,  while  immense  to  the  body  that  may  possess  the 
churches,  is  very  small  indeed  to  any  other  persons. 

How  correct  I  am  in  making  this  statement  the  committee 
will  be  enabled  to  judge  when  I  inform  them  that  we  can  trace 
an  expenditure  upon  the  glebe  houses,  not  including  sites, 
amounting  to  £1,200,000,  and  yet  the  whole  of  the  present  value 
of  them  in  Ireland,  including  the  ground  upon  which  they  are 
built,  is  estimated  at  only  £18,600  per  annum.  I  hear  a  good 
deal  of  murmuring  from  some  quarters  of  the  House,  and  I  am 
not  surprised  at  it,  because  when  these  facts  first  came  to  my 
knowledge  I  was  astonished  myself. 

[An  honorable  member  inquired  whether  the  sum  mentioned  included 
the  value  of  the  glebes.] 

No,  if  I  wanted  to  confuse  the  matter  thoroughly  I  should 
merely  have  to  discuss  the  subjects  of  the  glebe  houses  and 
the  glebes  together.  I  have  alluded  to  this  point  because  I  de- 
sire to  draw  a  distinction  between  the  title  of  the  Church  to 
what  may  be  looked  upon  as  property,  because  it  can  be  con- 
verted into  a  sensible  amount  of  money,  and  its  title  to  that 
which,  however  valuable  to  it  as  a  body,  has  no  marketable 
value. 

However,  I  by  no  means  wish  to  be  understood  as  saying 
that  the  glebe  houses  of  Ireland  are  worth  nothing.  On  the 
contrary,  I  will  prove  to  the  House  that  they  are  not  worth 
nothing,  and  I  will  do  so  by  showing  that  we  shall  not  get  hold 
of  them  without  paying  for  them,  as,  unfortunately,  they  are 
saddled  with  heavy  building  charges.    It  is  a  singular  fact  that 


3io  GLADSTONE 

upon  these  glebe  houses,  which  are  valued  at  the  present  mo- 
ment at  £18,600  per  annum — perhaps  you  may  be  justified  in 
adding  twenty  per  cent,  to  that  amount  in  order  to  bring  the 
value  to  the  rack  rental — there  should  be  in  addition  to  the 
enormous  sums  already  laid  out  upon  them  a  building  charge 
outstanding  of  about  £250,000.  That  is  the  exact  state  of  the 
case,  and  I  cannot  put  it  too  pointedly  to  the  committee. 
£1,200,000  has  been  already  laid  out  upon  this  property,  of  which 
the  annual  value,  according  to  the  tenements  valuation,  amounts 
to  £18,600,  and  a  further  sum  of  £250,000  is  still  payable  upon 
it  on  account  of  a  building  charge — a  sum  which  must  be  paid 
in  order  to  enable  us  to  come  into  legal  possession  of  it.  Now, 
that  is  not  certainly  a  very  inviting  prospect.  I  confess  I  was 
greatly  astonished  when  I  found  that  property  which  last  year 
I  proposed  to  treat  as  convertible  property  of  very  considerable 
value  turned  out  to  have  this  large  charge  upon  it  and  to  be  of 
such  comparatively  small  marketable  value.  However,  such 
as  it  is,  we  of  course  propose  to  take  it. 

If  the  statement  I  have  made  prove  to  be  inaccurate,  and 
should  it  turn  out  that  the  glebe  houses  are  of  more  value  than 
I  am  now  stating  them  to  be,  what  I  am  now  about  to  say  will 
be  subject,  of  course,  to  reconsideration.  Assuming,  however, 
that  my  information  is  correct  with  reference  to  the  value  of 
this  property,  then  it  appears  to  me  that  the  best  course  we  can 
adopt  under  the  circumstances  is  this :  This  building  charge, 
which  will  have  to  be  paid  by  us  in  the  first  instance,  is  not  uni- 
formly distributed  over  the  whole  of  the  glebe  houses.  It  is 
probable  that  in  some  cases  it  will  amount  to  almost  their  full 
marketable  value,  while  in  others  no  building  charge  at  all  will 
have  to  be  paid.  The  necessity  of  paying  the  building  charge 
where  it  exists  is  binding  upon  us,  because  in  such  a  case  the 
incumbent  would  have  been  entitled  to  recover  it  from  his  suc- 
cessor, and  consequently  when  the  incumbent  dies  or  commutes 
under  the  provisions  of  this  bill,  either  he  or  his  family  will  be 
entitled  to  recover  it  from  us  as  standing  in  the  place  of  his 
successor.  We  are,  therefore,  bound  by  law  and  by  justice  to 
discharge  this  obligation,  and  we  are  not  called  upon  to  exercise 
any  discretion  in  the  matter.  We  shall  come  into  possession  of 
the  glebe  houses  when  the  existing  life  interests  are  exhausted, 
because  our  interest  will  still  be  only  in  the  nature  of  a  rever- 


THE   ESTABLISHED    CHURCH    IN    IRELAND  311 

sionary  interest  in  the  property,  and  then  we  shall  have  to  pay 
the  amount  of  the  building  charge  still  outstanding  at  the  time. 

Having  come  into  possession  of  the  property  upon  those 
terms,  we  shall  assume  that  the  glebe  house,  where  fully 
charged,  is  no  property  at  all,  but  we  shall  still  regard  the  land 
upon  which  it  stands  as  valuable  property.  We  shall  say  to 
the  Church  body :  "  You  have  taken  the  church,  and  you  may 
now  negotiate  with  us  for  the  land  upon  which  the  glebe  house 
is  built,  and  also  for  a  small  glebe  not  exceeding  ten  acres  in 
extent  of  adjacent  land,  which  we  will  sell  you  at  a  fair  valua- 
tion." But  we  shall  add :  "  Where  you  take  the  land  you  may 
take  the  house ;  but  you  must  reimburse  us  the  whole  of  the 
building  charge  we  have  paid  upon  it,  subject  to  the  limitation 
that  it  shall  not  exceed  ten  years'  valuation."  After  a  great  deal 
of  consideration,  and  after  finding  that  the  treasure  we  believed 
we  possessed  in  the  glebe  houses  was  merely  visionary,  we  have 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  this  is  the  best  plan  we  can  adopt 
in  dealing  with  this  description  of  property.  It  has  been  said 
that  facilities  ought  to  be  given,  although  not  in  the  way  of 
grants  to  the  members  of  other  communions,  for  the  purpose  of 
enabling  them  to  erect  glebe  houses  for  themselves.  Now,  that 
is  a  principle  which  has  been  already  adopted  by  Parliament  in 
the  case  of  the  Act  of  William  IV,  under  which  public  money 
was  advanced — under  somewhat  onerous  conditions,  it  is  true — 
to  the  Roman  Catholics  and  the  Presbyterians  of  Ireland  for 
the  purpose  of  building  glebe  houses.  Although  we  have  not 
inserted  any  clause  to  carry  out  such  a  proposal  in  the  present 
bill,  we  think  it  may  be  desirable  that  loans  for  this  purpose 
may  be  granted  upon  easy  terms  contemporaneously  with  the 
winding-up  arrangements  to  be  conducted  by  the  Ecclesiastical 
Commission.  At  the  same  time  it  will  be  necessary  to  limit 
the  operation  of  that  system  within  a  certain  period  of  time, 
because  I  think  it  is  open  to  considerable  doubt  whether  it  would 
be  desirable  to  keep  a  law  of  that  kind  permanently  upon  the 
statute-book,  seeing  that  it  might  possibly  lead  to  some  con- 
troversy in  Ireland. 

The  question  relating  to  the  burial-grounds  may  be  disposed 
of  very  shortly.  I  propose  that  the  burial-grounds  belonging 
to  a  church  shall  pass  along  with  it  to  the  Church  body  holding 
the  latter,  provision  however  being  made  in  all  cases  for  the 


312  GLADSTONE 

preservation  of  existing  interests  in  the  burial-ground.  It  is 
known  to  the  committee  that  the  law  in  Ireland,  as  recently  ad- 
justed with  respect  to  burying-grounds,  is  very  different  from, 
and  is  much  more  favorable  to  the  public,  than  that  in  force  in 
England.  We  propose  that  all  other  burial-grounds  shall  be 
given  over  to  the  guardians  of  the  poor,  and  we  propose  to  give 
uniformity  and  simplicity  to  the  provisions  of  the  law  which 
is  now  in  partial  action. 

I  think  I  have  now  done  with  the  winding-up  arrangements 
of  the  bill  as  far  as  the  Established  Church  is  concerned.  There 
still  remains  a  portion  of  them  which,  although  not  very  ex- 
tensive in  amount,  is  yet  of  very  great  importance,  and  one 
which,  I  am  bound  to  add,  is  by  no  means  free  in  all  its  bear- 
ing from  difficulty.  It  was  at  all  times  part  of  the  views  of 
those  who  proposed  the  resolutions  of  last  year  that  with  the 
disestablishment  of  the  Church  must  come  the  final  cessation 
of  all  relations  between  the  State  and  the  Presbyterian  clergy 
in  Ireland  and  between  the  State  and  the  College  of  Maynooth. 
I  have  now  to  consider  in  what  manner  effect  is  to  be  given  to 
that  conviction,  which  was  strongly  entertained  by  the  House, 
and  which  was,  in  fact,  embodied  in  a  fourth  resolution  passed 
by  the  House  during  the  session  of  1868,  which  was  added  to 
the  other  three  resolutions  which  had  been  previously  agreed  to. 
The  sum  which  we  have  now  to  deal  with  is  an  annual  sum  of 
about  £70,000.  Of  that  amount  £26,000  a  year  constitutes  the 
vote  for  Maynooth,  and  between  £45,000  and  £50,000  is  the  ag- 
gregate of  the  votes  given  for  the  various  communities  of  Pres- 
byterians. We  are  no  longer  dealing  with  a  simple  and  single 
body  known  to  the  law  as  the  Established  Church,  but  we  are 
dealing  with  classes  which,  in  point  of  religious  opinion,  fall 
under  a  threefold  division. 

The  interest  now  before  us  is  that  of  the  Old  or  Scotch  Pres- 
byterians, as  I  may  call  them  for  distinction's  sake ;  the  next  is 
that  of  the  minor  bodies  of  Presbyterians,  who  are  separated  in 
Ireland  from  the  main  body,  not  only  by  religious  communion, 
but  by  grave  differences  in  those  matters  which  lie  at  the  founda- 
tions of  the  Christian  faith.  There  are  three  or  four  of  these 
bodies,  such  as  the  Remonstrant  Synod  of  Ulster,  the  Presbytery 
of  Antrim,  and  one  or  two  more,  who  fall  under  a  different 
class  of  religionists  ;  these,  or  some  of  them,  entertaining  Arian 
or  what  are  called  Unitarian  opinions. 


THE   ESTABLISHED   CHURCH    IN    IRELAND  313 

Then  there  are  the  Roman  Catholics,  sufficiently  known  to 
us  to  dispense  with  the  necessity  for  any  description  as  regards 
their  religious  opinions.  If  I  refer  to  these  distinctions  of  re- 
ligious belief  it  is  only  for  the  purpose  of  stating  in  the  broadest 
manner  that  on  the  part  of  Her  Majesty's  Government  I  en- 
tirely decline  on  the  present  occasion  to  enter  into  such  matters. 
I  will  not  for  one  moment  ask  what  are  the  political  or  the  re- 
ligious peculiarities  of  these  bodies,  professing  the  Christian 
name,  with  whom  we  are  to  deal ;  but  I  will  endeavor  to  deal 
with  them  strictly,  impartially,  and  equitably  on  the  principles  of 
civil  justice,  which  apply  to  them  all  alike,  and  which  render 
it  iniquitous  and  wrong  to  raise  controversial  questions  in  re- 
gard to  them  or  to  matters  of  religious  belief.  The  ground 
they  stand  on  is  that  of  citizenship — the  claim  they  urge  is  that 
of  general  equity  and  good  faith.  We,  the  Government,  have 
recognized  that  claim.  I  am  confident  that  Parliament  will  rec- 
ognize that  claim  in  the  case  of  the  Established  Church.  Let 
us  endeavor  to  proceed  upon  the  same  fair,  and  just,  and  liberal, 
though  moderate,  and  prudent  recognition  of  it  in  the  case  of 
these  bodies  exterior  to  the  Established  Church.  Now,  as  re- 
spects the  larger  part  of  this  sum  of  £70,000  a  year,  there  is  no 
difficulty — when  you  come  to  look  at  it  in  the  light  of  a  purely 
civil  interest.  Most  of  it  is  given  in  the  shape  of  a  direct  vote 
of  so  much  money  passing  immediately  from  the  State  to  the 
individual  through  the  synod,  but  in  all  cases  the  nature  of  the 
vested  interest  and  expectancy — call  it  what  you  like — is  the 
same.  All  we  have  to  do  is  to  take  precisely  the  same  course  as 
with  respect  to  the  clergy  of  the  Established  Church.  Take  the 
question  of  income — which  here  being  a  mere  matter  of  money 
can  be  at  once  ascertained — that  is  not  given  to  him  for  nothing, 
but  on  the  condition  of  the  performance  of  duty.  Hence,  with  a 
slight  modification,  which  I  need  not  here  mention,  a  similar 
claim  will  arise  in  the  case  of  the  Presbyterian  minister  to  that 
which  I  have  already  explained  in  the  case  of  the  incumbent ; 
and  the  bill  also  will  give  to  him  a  power  of  commutation  in 
every  substantial  respect  corresponding  with  that  proposed  to  be 
made  for  the  clergy  of  the  Established  Church. 

So  far  with  respect  to  the  clergy  and  to  life  interests  proper. 
Beside  the  ministers  who  perform  spiritual  offices  in  particular 
congregations,  there  is  another  class  that  appears  to  us  to  have 


3i4  GLADSTONE 

a  claim  ;  they  are  what  are  called  assistants  and  successors.  Now 
these  gentlemen  are  in  a  condition,  not  indeed  as  to  the  abun- 
dance of  the  interest  at  which  they  are  ultimately  to  arrive,  but 
otherwise  I  take  it  legally  in  a  condition  not  very  far  removed 
from  that  of  an  heir  of  entail;  they  are  already  appointed  to 
the  assistant  pastorship  of  a  particular  congregation ;  they  de- 
rive no  benefit  from  the  Regium  Donum,  but  the  office  of  as- 
sistant which  they  hold  entitles  them  to  succeed  after  the  death 
or  resignation  of  the  incumbent,  and  consequently  it  is  urged 
that  they  have  a  just  claim  to  the  expectancy  created  by  that 
right  of  succession.  This  is  not  a  very  large  matter;  it  con- 
sists only  of  the  difference  in  value  between  the  life  of  the 
incumbent  and  the  younger  life  of  his  successor;  but  to  that 
extent  we  think  it  just  that  the  claim  should  be  provided  for. 

Then  there  is  another  class — the  teachers  of  Presbyterian 
educational  institutions  under  the  general  assembly  of  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Ulster.  With  regard  to  them,  though  they  are  not 
ministers,  but  professors  only,  we  propose  to  deal  with  them 
precisely  in  the  same  manner  as  if  they  were  pastors  of  churches, 
and  to  assure  to  them  their  salaries,  together  with  a  like  power 
of  commutation.  But  now  comes  a  greater  difficulty,  with  re- 
spect to  those  educational  establishments  to  which  I  wish  to 
call  the  attention  of  the  committee  for  a  few  moments.  When 
we  disestablish  a  church,  and  when  a  particular  congregation 
ceases  to  have  a  pastor  found  for  it  by  public  funds,  it  feels  an 
immediate  want,  and  a  stimulus  is  applied  to  it  to  satisfy  that 
want.  But  when  you  deal  with  an  establishment  for  educa- 
tional purposes,  a  rather  different  order  of  considerations  comes 
into  play.  There  are  several  points  which  ought  to  be  taken  into 
account,  although  I  will  not  say  precisely  what  amount  of 
weight  is  to  be  given  to  them. 

In  dealing  with  these  Presbyterian  places  of  education  we 
have  information  upon  which  to  proceed,  but  in  dealing  with 
the  professors  of  the  College  of  Maynooth  we  know  nothing  as 
to  the  details  of  the  arrangements  made  with  them.  We  have 
chosen  to  constitute  a  trust  by  the  authority  of  an  act  of  Parlia- 
ment, and  to  that  trust  we  have  committed  the  disposal  of  the 
grant  which  Parliament  has  thought  fit  to  make.  Well,  now, 
what  is  the  experience  of  England?  The  experience,  in  par- 
ticular, of  the  training  colleges  proves  that  there  should  be  some 


THE   ESTABLISHED   CHURCH    IN   IRELAND  315 

consideration  in  dealing  with  establishments  for  education.  I 
ought  not,  perhaps,  to  bring  into  the  present  discussion  the 
case  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  for  Her  Majesty's  Government 
make  no  proposal  upon  that  subject  at  the  present  time.  But  it 
is  perfectly  plain  that  if  the  House  and  the  legislature  should 
adopt  the  measure  that  we  now  submit  to  it,  Trinity  College, 
Dublin,  will  have  to  be  made  the  subject  of  legislation.  It  is 
also,  I  think,  quite  plain  that  it  will  be  impossible  to  maintain 
the  present  exclusive  application  of  the  revenues  of  Trinity 
College  to  the  purposes  of  a  governing  body  and  staff  wholly 
connected  with  one  religious  persuasion.  It  is  quite  possible 
that  Parliament  may  apply  to  Trinity  College  the  same  lenient 
method  of  dealing  which  it  commonly  adopts,  and  may  think 
fit  to  leave  some  moderate  provision  applicable  to  the  rearing, 
or  to  the  teaching,  at  least,  of  the  clergy,  who  will,  as  a.  clergy, 
become  dependent  entirely  upon  the  resources  of  a  voluntary 
communion.  But  undoubtedly  when  we  come  to  deal  with 
Trinity  College  we  shall  feel  the  force  of  this  argument,  that 
to  put  a  sharp  termination  to  the  career  of  an  educational  es- 
tablishment is  a  more  trenchant  operation  than  to  do  the  same 
with  the  machinery  for  providing  a  parochial  ministry,  because 
one  is  a  much  stronger  stimulus  to  persons  to  provide  them- 
selves with  clergymen  than  the  other  is  to  induce  them  to  main- 
tain schools  in  which  these  clergymen  can  be  trained.  These 
general  considerations,  at  the  same  time,  are  considerations 
which  I  know  must  not  be  pushed  beyond  their  proper  limits. 

I  hope  the  House  will  think,  when  I  come  to  the  end  of  this 
long  and  wearisome  statement,  that  whatever  the  Government 
have  done,  they  have  endeavored  to  keep  strict  good  faith.  I 
believe  that  I  have  announced  no  proposal  as  yet  to  which  that 
character  will  not  be  held  to  apply  when  it  is  compared  with  our 
former  declarations ;  and  I  trust  that  my  announcements  will 
remain  the  same  to  the  end  of  the  chapter.  I  have  now  to  con- 
sider in  the  light  and  spirit  of  our  general  arrangements,  and, 
subject  always  to  the  full  maintenance,  in  letter  and  in  spirit, 
of  that  which  we  have  heretofore  declared,  what  appears  to 
us  the  most  equitable  method  of  dealing  with  the  Reginm 
Donum,  the  grant  to  Maynooth,  and  all  similar  grants.  The 
Presbyterians  are  interested  in  this  matter  in  respect  of  the 
college  which  they  have  have  in  Belfast,  and  likewise  in  re- 


3i6  GLADSTONE 

spect  of  a  similar  institution  which  exists  for  the  benefit  of 
minor  Presbyterian  bodies ;  the  Roman  Catholics  are  interested 
in  it  through  the  College  of  Maynooth ;  but  there  are  also  sev- 
eral other  payments  made  by  Parliament  which,  on  the  whole, 
fall  under  very  much  the  same  class  of  considerations.  There 
is  the  payment  made  by  Parliament  to  what  is  called  the  Pres- 
byterian Widows'  Fund.  Now,  that,  of  course,  exists  for  the 
purpose  of  supplying  wants  that  are  coming  into  operation  from 
year  to  year,  and  it  would  be  very  hard  to  withdraw  that  wid- 
ows' fund  without  notice.  In  the  same  way  it  would  be  hard  to 
withdraw  without  notice  the  grants  now  made  to  Presbyterian 
educational  establishments  and  to  the  College  of  Maynooth. 
There  is  another  class  of  payments  made  by  the  Presbyterians 
to  their  synodical  officers.  They  hold  an  office  regarding  which 
it  is  very  difficult  to  define  the  degree  to  which  it  should  be  con- 
sidered a  vested  interest.  But  when  we  look  at  the  whole  of 
these  matters,  and  read  them  in  the  light  of  the  declarations  and 
proceedings  of  last  year,  we  have  adopted — first,  the  principle 
that  now  permanent  endowment  can  be  given  to  them  out  of  the 
public  resources  properly  so  called ;  and,  secondly,  the  princi- 
ple that  no  permanent  endowment  can  be  given  to  them  out  of 
the  National  Ecclesiastical  Fund  of  Ireland.  What  we  propose, 
and  we  think  it  a  fair  and  equitable  proposal,  is,  that,  in  order 
to  give  time  for  the  free  consideration  of  the  arrangements  and 
the  construction  of  scales  for  the  satisfaction  of  life  interests, 
and  for  avoiding  violent  shocks  and  disappointments  to  those 
whose  plans  for  life  may  already  have  been  made  upon  the 
supposition  of  the  continuance  of  arrangements  which  have  so 
long  existed,  and  which  were  solemnly  made,  there  should  be  a 
valuation  of  the  interest  of  all  these  grants — a  life  interest  at  a 
moderate  scale,  or  at  fourteen  years'  purchase,  of  the  capital 
amount  now  annually  voted. 

[Sir  S.  Northcote:  "  The  annual  amount?"] 

Yes,  the  annual  amount.  It  is  a  life  interest,  and  it  is  to  be 
commuted  as  a  life  interest  is  commuted,  upon  the  age  of  the 
individual.  That  age  varies.  In  the  case  of  Presbyterian  min- 
isters, as  there  is  a  large  number  of  years,  that  amount  is  high. 
In  the  case  of  bishops  and  dignitaries  it  is  somewhat  lower.  We 
take  fourteen  years  as,  on  the  whole,  a  fair  amount  of  these 


THE  ESTABLISHED   CHURCH    IN    IRELAND  317 

different  grants.  We  propose  to  treat  them  substantially  as  life 
interests,  and  the  payment  is  to  be  analogous  to  that  made  on 
other  life  interests,  and  this  to  wind  up  and  close  all  the  relations 
between  those  bodies  and  persons  and  the  State. 

Well,  now,  sir,  I  am  coming  in  sight  of  port.  There  are  two 
or  three  points  which  will  not  take  long,  apart  from  the  ques- 
tion of  religion  and  matters  of  controversy,  but  which  are  of  so 
much  interest  to  gentlemen  connected  with  Ireland  and  the 
land  of  Ireland,  and  which  likewise  have  so  innocent  and  bene- 
ficial a  bearing  on  the  land  question  of  Ireland,  that  I  must  beg 
for  a  little  more  of  the  indulgence  of  the  committee.  First  of 
all,  I  would  proceed  to  explain  what  I  fear  some  of  my  hearers 
will  think  ought  to  be  placed  in  the  category  of  financial  puz- 
zles. If  they  do  not  entirely  follow  me,  I  will  ask  them,  with- 
out understanding  me,  to  believe  it,  and  I  will  undertake  to 
make  it  good  upon  a  future  occasion.  It  relates  to  the  impor- 
tant subject  of  the  tithe  rent-charge  of  Ireland.  I  have  already 
said  that  I  attach  great  importance  to  the  merging  of  the  tithe 
rent-charge,  and  for  that  reason  the  commission  will  step  into 
the  possession  of  it  immediately  after  the  passing  of  the  act. 
Well,  if  there  be  here  any  gentlemen  possessed  of  land  in  Ire- 
land— and  there  are  many — they  will  not  be  very  grateful  to 
me  for  what  I  am  going  first  to  state.  It  is  that  we  shall  give 
to  them  unconditionally  the  tithe  rent-charge  at  twenty-two  and 
one-half  years'  purchase.  That  is,  of  course,  twenty-two  and 
one-half  years'  purchase,  not  of  the  old  gross  £100,  but  of  the 
£75  a  year.  We  make  that  offer  because  we  think  there  may  be 
landlords  in  Ireland  who  will  be  disposed  at  once  to  wind  up 
the  arrangement  with  us. 

But  if  gentlemen  will  listen  to  me  they  will  see  that  we  have 
another  alternative  for  those  who  may  not  be  disposed  to  pur- 
chase the  tithe  rent-charge  out  and  out  in  money  down  at 
twenty-two  and  one-half  years'  purchase.  It  is  this — We  make 
to  them  a  compulsory  sale.  I  have  not  the  least  idea  that  any- 
one will  object  to  that.  We  convey  the  tithe  rent-charge  to 
them  under  the  following  conditions :  We  charge  them  in  our 
books  with  £2,250  for  every  net  £100  a  year  of  tithe  rent-charge. 
That  is  to  say,  we  sell  them  a  tithe  rent-charge  at  a  rate  to 
yield  them  four  and  one-half  per  cent.  We  then  credit  them 
on  the  other  side  with  a  loan  of  equal  amount.     We  provide 


3i8  GLADSTONE 

that  they  shall  pay  off  that  loan  by  annual  instalments,  with 
interest.  But  the  rate  of  interest  to  be  charged  on  the  instal- 
ment is  three  and  one-half  per  cent.  The  consequence  of  that 
is  that  a  fund  of  one  per  cent,  will  remain  as  a  sinking  fund 
to  absorb  the  principal.  The  purchaser  of  the  tithe  rent-charge 
in  that  form — except  that  he  will  get  rid  of  the  fluctuation,  for 
we  must  give  him  a  fixed  amount— will  not  be  called  upon  to 
make  any  addition  whatever  to  his  annual  payment.  He  will 
be  liable  to  that  annual  payment  for  forty-five  years,  and  at  the 
close  of  that  term  he  will,  under  this  arrangement,  have  the 
rent-charge,  whatever  it  may  be,  for  the  residue  of  the  time  for 
nothing.  That  will  be  the  financial  effect  of  the  arrangement, 
which,  I  think,  will  not  be  bad  for  the  Irish  landlord.  I  perceive 
by  the  buzz  around  me  that  this  subject  is  not  without  some 
interest  to  a  great  many  honorable  members.  I  may  here  say 
that  in  dealing  with  this  question  I  have  ventured  to  lament  the 
necessity  under  which  Parliament  has  found  itself  on  a  former 
occasion  of  wasting  the  property  of  the  Irish  Church  in  order 
to  prevent  its  being  so  great  in  its  magnitude  as  too  much  to 
shock  the  public  mind.  We  have  not  proceeded  on  that  princi- 
ple of  wasting.  We  have  not  sought  to  work  down  the  residue 
that  will  remain  to  be  disposed  of ;  but  we  have  endeavored  to 
make  the  most  economical  arrangement  for  the  interest  of  that 
fund  of  which  the  equity  of  the  case  admits.  And  the  com- 
mittee will  the  more  readily  give  me  credit  for  what  I  have  to 
say  on  this  subject  when  I  add  that  while  in  this  manner  we 
shall  give  twenty-two  and  one-half  years'  purchase  for  the  tithe 
rent-charge  of  Ireland,  the  average  rate  at  which  that  charge 
sells  in  the  market  is  very  little,  if  at  all,  more  than  sixteen  or 
seventeen  years'  purchase.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  not  a  bad 
arrangement  for  the  public,  because  it  may  be  safely  taken  as  a 
general  rule  that  the  public,  in  arrangements  reaching  over  a 
long  period  of  time,  are  perfectly  safe  in  undertaking  to  lend 
at  three  and  one-half  per  cent. 

There  is  another  point  which  need  not  detain  us  more  than  a 
moment.  It  relates  to  what  will  be  in  the  recollection  of  Irish 
gentlemen — but  there  are  very  few  still  here  who  were  in  the 
House  at  the  period  of  the  Irish  Church  Temporalities  Act — as 
the  Perpetuity  Purchase  Clauses.  They  were  clauses  of  an  ar- 
rangement somewhat  doubtful  for  the  interest  of  the  national 


THE   ESTABLISHED   CHURCH    IN   IRELAND         319 

ecclesiastical  property  of  Ireland.  We  feel  that  under  this  bill 
equity  requires  that  the  persons  who  are  now  possessed  of  a 
title  to  purchase  under  these  clauses  should  not  be  suddenly  de- 
prived of  that  title.  But  we  also  feel  it  to  be  impossible,  in  a 
measure  of  disestablishment  and  disendowment,  to  keep  those 
clauses  permanently  in  existence,  in  consequence  of  the  highly 
anomalous  and  inconvenient  confusion  of  interests  which  they 
create.  We  therefore  propose  that  the  power  to  purchase,  now 
in  the  hands  of  the  tenant,  shall  remain  in  existence  for  three 
years  from  January  1,  1871,  and  if  not  made  use  of  in  that  in- 
terval, it  shall  then  finally  lapse  and  determine. 

Another  question  of  great  and  universal  interest  arises  here. 
The  commissioners  to  be  appointed  under  this  bill,  or  some 
body  which  may  succeed  them,  after  the  difficult  and  onerous 
part  of  the  arrangement  shall  be  disposed  of,  will,  as  I  think, 
be  the  holders  of  a  considerable  amount  of  property.  The  ques- 
tion is  in  what  investment  shall  that  be  held.  The  perpetuity 
purchase  rents  now  in  existence  appear  to  form,  as  far  as  they 
go,  a  very  eligible  description  of  investment,  because  they  have 
the  certainty  of  landed  income  without  the  incidents  of  fluctua- 
tion, or  any  of  those  difficult  administrative  questions  which 
attach  to  the  character  of  the  landlord.  The  committee  will, 
however,  agree  with  me  that  it  is  not  desirable  either  that  this 
commission  which  we  now  propose  to  appoint,  or  any  State 
authority  in  its  place,  should  continue  permanently  to  hold  the 
Church  land  which  will  necessarily  come  into  its  possession. 
Such  a  commission  is  not  and  cannot  be  permanently  a  good 
landlord,  and  it  is  far  better  that  it  should  discharge  itself  as 
soon  as  may  be  of  duties  it  cannot  properly  fulfil. 

What  we  propose,  then,  is  that  in  selling  the  proprietary 
rights  of  these  estates,  the  power  of  preemption  should  be  pro- 
vided for  the  tenants,  and,  what  is  more — indeed,  without  this 
addition,  I  do  not  think  I  could  claim  for  this  provision  credit 
for  anything  more  than  good  intentions — we  further  propose 
that  in  such  sales  three-fourths  of  the  purchase-money  may  be 
left  upon  the  security  of  the  land,  and  that  the  charge  so  remain- 
ing shall  be  liquidated  by  instalments,  upon  the  principle  adopt- 
ed in  the  Drainage  Act,  by  which  we  make  the  whole  repayable 
in  twenty-two  years.  Now,  the  nature  of  this  proposal  the 
committee  thoroughly  comprehend,  and  I  trust  it  will  meet  with 


320  GLADSTONE 

their  approval.  It  does  not  place  the  land  in  the  market  in  an 
anomalous  character;  it  does  not  make  the  State  responsible 
for  duties  that  it  cannot  fulfil,  and  the  permanent  retention  of 
which  is  alien  from  its  nature.  And  it  will  have  the  economical 
effect  of  materially  improving  the  price  that  we  shall  get  for 
the  land,  and  by  this  means  we  shall  try  the  experiment  on  a 
limited  scale  of  breaking  up  properties  in  a  manner  which  I  be- 
lieve to  be  perfectly  safe,  easy,  and  unexceptionable. 

I  will  now,  sir,  give  to  the  committee  the  financial  result  of 
these  operations  in  a  very  few  words.  With  respect  to  the  in- 
come of  the  Irish  Church  I  shall  say  little,  for  I  have  great 
difficulty  in  making  out  what  it  is.  The  Church  Commission 
labored  assiduously  between  1867  and  the  end  of  1868,  and  they 
have  reported  as  the  result  of  their  inquiries  that  the  income  of 
the  Irish  Church  is  £616,000  a  year.  I  must  say,  with  very  great 
respect  for  their  sixteen  months  of  toil,  that  I  humbly  dissent 
from  the  conclusion  at  which  the  commission  arrived.  It  seems 
to  me  that  they  placed  the  revenue  too  low.  I  find  that  one  of 
the  commissioners,  Colonel  Adair,  who  is  known  to  have  taken 
an  active  part  in  their  labors,  has  within  the  last  fortnight  pub- 
lished a  statement  in  which  he  puts  the  income  of  the  Irish 
Church  as  high  as  £839,000  a  year.  I  do  not  place  it  quite  so 
high  as  Colonel  Adair,  nor  quite  so  low  as  the  Irish  Church 
Commission.     I  believe  it  to  be  about  £700,000  a  year. 

So  much  for  the  income  of  the  Irish  Church.  But  what  we 
have  more  to  do  with  is  the  capital.  I  have  taken  the  tithe  rent- 
charge  at  the  rate  of  purchase  I  propose,  and  I  find  that  the  tithe 
rent-charge  will  yield  £9,000,000.  I  have  taken  the  land  of  all 
kinds — Episcopal  and  chapter  lands,  those  belonging  to  glebes, 
etc.,  and  putting  on  them  the  fairest  valuation  that  a  very  compe- 
tent person  by  whom  we  are  assisted  in  Dublin  can  make,  I  find 
that  the  whole  undivided  value  of  the  lands  and  of  the  perpetuity 
rents,  if  sold,  would  be  £250,000.  Besides  that,  there  is  money 
of  one  kind  or  another  in  stocks  and  banks  to  the  amount  of 
£750,000.  I  have  not  attempted  to  value  the  fabrics  of  churches, 
nor  the  fabrics  of  the  glebe  houses,  because  after  what  I  have 
stated  of  how  they  stand  in  the  tenement  valuation  and  the 
charge  upon  them,  I  consider  it  would  be  idle  to  include  them 
in  this  statement  as  an  item  of  any  considerable  amount.  The 
result,    without   taking   into   account   the    glebe   houses    and 


THE   ESTABLISHED   CHURCH    IN   IRELAND  321 

churches,  is  that  the  whole  value  of  the  Church  property  in 
Ireland,  reduced  and  cut  down  as  it  has  been — first  by  the  al- 
most unbounded  waste  of  life  tenants,  and  second  by  the  wisdom 
or  unwisdom  of  well-intending  Parliaments — the  remaining 
value  is  not  less  than  £16,000,000 — an  amount  more  considerable 
than  I  had  ventured  to  anticipate,  when,  with  smaller  means  of 
information,  I  endeavored  to  form  an  estimate  of  it  last  year. 

I  now  come  to  a  delicate  part  of  the  case,  and  here  the  figures 
must  be  considered  as  taken  with  rather  a  broad  margin.  Yet, 
on  the  whole,  I  think  they  will  be  found  very  near  the  mark, 
so  far  as  the  total  is  concerned.  The  life  interests  of  incumbents 
of  all  kinds  in  the  Church — bishops,  dignitaries,  and  parochial 
clergy — will  amount,  I  think,  to  say  £4,900,000;  and  if  that 
appears  to  anyone  a  large  sum  he  should  recollect  that  when  di- 
vided by  the  large  number  of  persons — two  thousand — among 
whom  the  whole  has  to  be  apportioned,  it  represents  a  very 
slender  acknowledgment  for  the  labors,  expectations,  and  costly 
education  of  those  gentlemen,  and  for  the  anxieties  and  honest 
and  good  service  by  which  their  respective  situations  have  been 
attended.  The  compensation  of  the  curates,  deducted  from 
that  of  the  incumbents,  will  come  to  £800,000.  The  lay  com- 
pensations are  not  inconsiderable.  They  will  come  to  £900,000. 
Of  that  something  over  £300,000,  it  is  supposed,  will  be  the 
value  of  the  advowsons ;  but  it  is  very  difficult  in  Ireland  to 
obtain  fixed,  clear,  and  definite  rules  for  estimating  their  value. 
The  transfer  of  them  in  Ireland  is  comparatively  rare,  and  they 
are  subject  to  a  variety  of  contingencies  which  very  much  im- 
pair the  means  of  judgment.  It  is  not  a  large  matter.  We  put 
it  at  about  £300,000. 

The  other  lay  compensations  embrace  a  class  of  persons  who 
do  not  much  enter  into  the  view,  looking  at  this  subject  gener- 
ally ;  but  the  largest  part  will  be  absorbed  by  the  parish  clerks 
and  sextons  in  Ireland,  of  whom  the  bulk,  I  believe,  like  the 
incumbents,  have  freehold  offices,  and  must  be  dealt  with  on 
the  very  same  principle  as  the  incumbents.  Then  there  are  the 
officers  of  cathedrals,  of  the  ecclesiastical  courts,  and  the  func- 
tionaries connected  with  the  present  Ecclesiastical  Commission. 
These  will  bring  up  the  amount  of  the  lay  compensations  to 
about  £900,000.  The  charge  of  private  endowments  on  the 
fund  is  about  £500,000,  and  in  that,  I  may  say  in  passing,  will 
Vol.  II.— 21 


32  2  GLADSTONE 

not  be  included  the  result  of  a  recent  act  of  Parliament  passed 
by  Sir  Joseph  Napier  as  to  endowments  of  a  particular  class, 
which  it  is  not  necessary  to  bring  into  this  bill.  The  building 
charges  on  the  glebe  houses  represent  £250,000.  The  sum  nec- 
essary to  clear  off  our  engagements  upon  the  moderate  footing 
we  propose  with  respect  to  the  Presbyterians  and  Maynooth  will 
be  £1,100,000;  and  of  that  sum  I  ought  to  say  two-thirds  will 
go  to  the  Presbyterians,  and  no  more  than  one-third  to  May- 
nooth. I  must  also  supply  two  small  claims  I  had  omitted. 
The  Presbyterians  claim,  and  I  think  it  is  not  an  unreasonable 
claim,  that  as  we  admit  an  educational  establishment  to  require 
a  little  more  time  for  maintaining  it  on  the  old  system,  we  should 
give  them  some  consideration  in  the  shape  of  money  in  respect 
of  the  buildings  they  have  raised  in  Belfast  to  meet  the  parlia- 
mentary grant,  which  we  shall  be  prepared  to  concede,  subject 
to  the  maximum  of  £15,000.  The  other  is  a  claim,  not  made 
by  the  Roman  Catholics,  but  it  is  our  opinion  it  ought  to  be 
made  spontaneously,  and  that,  I  think,  will  be  the  universal  opin- 
ion of  the  House.  When  the  Act  of  1845  was  passed  it  was 
known  to  be  the  intention  that  the  buildings  of  Maynooth  should 
be  kept  in  repair  at  the  public  charge.  The  House  of  Commons 
modified  its  views  shortly  after.  The  college  had  no  means  of 
meeting  the  necessary  expense  except  by  borrowing,  and  they 
have  gone  in  debt  to  the  Board  of  Works  to  the  extent  of  £20,- 
000.  I  think  we  should  feel  that  that  debt  incurred  in  past 
time  on  account  of  these  repairs,  and  in  consequence  of  a  change 
of  view  on  the  part  of  Parliament,  ought  at  once  to  be  remitted. 
I  estimate  the  expense  of  this  commission  during  the  ten  years 
of  its  continuance  at  £200,000,  and  that  makes  my  total  charge 
against  the  property  of  the  Church  amount  to  £8,500,000.  So 
that  the  property  will  be  divided — for  I  confess  I  have  some 
faith  in  the  moderation  of  my  estimate — into  two  nearly  equal 
parts  ;  or,  to  be  quite  safe,  I  may  call  it  £16,000,000 ;  and  as  the 
charges  upon  it  will  come  to  between  £8,000,000  and  £9,000,000, 
the  sum  at  the  disposal  of  Parliament  will  not  be  less  than  be- 
tween £7,000,000  and  £8,000,000. 

I  have  now,  sir,  done  with  my  first  and  second  dates,  but  there 
is  one  financial  item  which,  through  infirmity  of  memory,  I 
have  omitted.  The  committee  will  naturally  ask  how  we  are 
to  pay  the  heavy  charge  that  may  be  entailed  by  the  commuta- 


THE   ESTABLISHED   CHURCH   IN    IRELAND  323 

tions,  because  if  the  commutations  are  made,  and  we  have  every 
desire  they  should  be  made  immediately  or  as  soon  as  possible 
after  disestablishment,  they  will  require,  between  Episcopalians 
and  Presbyterians,  from  £6,000,000  to  £7,000,000.  My  answer 
is  that,  fortunately,  the  banking  resources  of  my  right  honorable 
friend  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  are  such,  with  respect 
to  the  deposits  of  the  public,  as  to  cause  no  serious  difficulty  on 
that  part  of  the  case ;  and,  as  a  matter  of  prudence,  we  have 
taken  power  in  the  bill  to  fix  the  payment  of  commutation  money 
in  eight  instalments  extending  over  four  years. 

And  now  supposing  that  all  the  arrangements  which  I  have 
so  imperfectly  detailed,  and  which  the  committee  have  listened 
to  with  so  much  patience — supposing  that  we  have  reached  the 
moment  when  these  arrangements  are  all  completed — that  is, 
so  far  completed  that  provision  is  made  for  all  they  can  pos- 
sibly require — I  now  come  to  the  third  date  to  which  I  pointed 
at  the  commencement,  and  I  ask  a  question  which  will  reawaken 
the  flagging  interest  of  the  committee — how  we  are  to  dispose 
of  the  residue?  I  will  first  state  the  conditions  which  appear 
to  me  necessary  to  be  combined  in  a  good  plan  for  the  disposal  of 
such  a  fund.  The  first  two  are  already  fixed,  written,  I  may  say, 
in  letters  of  iron.  It  is  written  that  the  money  is  to  be  applied  to 
Irish  purposes ;  and  it  is  written  that  it  is  to  be  applied  to  pur- 
poses not  ecclesiastical — not  for  any  Church,  not  for  any  clergy, 
not  or  any  teaching  of  religion,  and  I  hope  the  committee  will 
see  that  in  thus  broadly  stating  what  I  conceive  to  be  the  obliga- 
tions we  have  come  under,  I  am  showing  a  disposition  not  to 
shrink  from  the  fulfilment  of  those  obligations. 

But  there  are  other  requisites  that  it  is  most  important  to  com- 
bine in  any  plan  for  the  application  of  this  residue.  In  the  first 
place  I  think  there  are  feelings  much  to  be  respected  in  a  large 
portion  of  the  community — of  those  who  say  that  the  time  has 
come  when  the  application  of  this  money  must  be  dissociated 
from  the  teaching  of  religion,  but  who  at  the  same  time  would 
desire  that  its  future  application  should,  if  possible,  bear  upon 
it  some  of  those  legible  marks  of  Christian  character,  which 
would  be  as  it  were  a  witness  to  its  first  origin  and  its  long- 
continued  use,  being  applied  as  nearly  as  circumstances  admit  in 
conformity  with  what  is  usually  the  cypres  doctrine  of  courts  of 
equity.    Another  condition  of  a  good  plan  is  that  it  must  not 


324  GLADSTONE 

drag  us  from  one  controversy  into  another.  We  must  not  make 
this  great  controversy  the  mere  doorway  to  another  set  of  con- 
flicts and  disputes,  perhaps  equally  embarrassing.  One  con- 
dition of  a  good  plan  is  that,  the  question  being  Irish  and  wholly 
Irish,  the  plan  must  be  equal  in  its  application  to  all  parties, 
and,  as  far  as  may  be,  to  the  whole  community  in  Ireland.  One 
condition  more  I  will  mention,  to  which  I  attach  the  highest 
value :  the  plan  must  embody  the  final  application  of  the  money. 
The  money  must  be  so  disposed  as  that  the  day  may  never  come 
when  any  member  on  either  side  of  the  House  should  suggest, 
seeing  that  there  was  a  sum  of  money  to  dispose  of,  some  scheme 
for  its  application,  which  would  lead  us  back  into  all  the  em- 
barrassments from  which  we  are  now  at  length  vigorously  strug- 
gling to  free  ourselves. 

I  will  mention  some  of  the  modes  suggested  for  the  applica- 
tion of  the  money.  The  division  of  the  fund  among  Churches 
only  was  out  of  the  question,  because  such  a  measure  would  be 
in  conflict  with  the  sentiments  of  the  people,  the  opinions  of 
this  House,  and  the  pledges  which  we  have  given  and  which 
must  be  redeemed.  Its  application  to  education  would  not  fall 
so  directly  under  the  same  ban,  but  it  might  give  rise  to  the 
suspicion  in  Ireland  that  it  was  an  endeavor  to  get  rid  of  the 
annual  grant,  and  might  launch  us  into  the  controversies  con- 
nected with  the  system  of  national  education  in  that  country.  It 
has  been  proposed  by  some  that  the  fund  should  be  applied  to 
public  works  in  Ireland. 

Those  who  have  followed  the  history  of  the  great  attempt  we 
made  at  public  works  in  Ireland  in  reference  to  the  Shannon 
drainage,  will  admit  that  the  prospect  opened  by  such  a  pro- 
posal is  not  very  inviting.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  a  project  which 
would  lead  to  jobbery,  and  in  the  next  place  it  would  set  every 
part  of  Ireland  at  variance  with  every  other  part  in  the  scramble 
to  obtain  the  largest  possible  portion  of  the  money.  In  the  third 
place,  do  what  you  could  to  promote  equality,  the  application  of 
the  money  must  be  unequal,  because  more  would  be  given  to 
certain  districts  than  to  others ;  and  if  the  money  were  applied 
in  the  way  of  loan,  the  arrangement  would  lead  to  great  improvi- 
dence, because  when  one  public  work  was  ended  the  money 
would  flow  back  and  become  again  available,  and  it  would  be 
impossible  to  make  the  fund  a  permanent  foundation  for  loans 


THE   ESTABLISHED   CHURCH    IN    IRELAND  325 

without  encountering  difficulties  of  an  objectionable  character. 
In  the  same  way  reasons  may  be  adduced  against  the  application 
of  the  fund  to  railways,  and,  besides,  it  is  impossible  for  us  to 
connect  the  question  of  Irish  railways  with  the  question  of  the 
Irish  Church.  I  know  the  interest  which  exists  for  railways  in 
Ireland  ;  but  I  also  know  that  it  is  a  question  of  great  difficulty 
and  complexity  ;  and  it  is  our  duty  in  laying  before  you  a  meas- 
ure for  which  we  claim  the  merit  of  finality  to  make  some  pro- 
posal obvious  and  clear  in  character,  and  which  does  not  involve 
you  in  any  difficult  inquiries.  It  will  be  the  duty  of  the  Govern- 
ment to  give  a  careful  consideration  to  all  proposals  in  regard 
to  Irish  railways,  without  connecting  them  with  the  present 
matter. 

It  has  next  been  proposed  that  the  money  should  be  applied  to 
the  poor-rates.  Such  an  application,  it  appears  to  me,  would  be 
a  great  mistake.  I  am  not  in  the  least  inclined  to  deny  that  the 
land  and  the  landlords  of  Ireland  may  derive  some  considerable 
benefit  in  the  long  run  from  any  mode  in  which  the  money 
might  be  applied  for  the  benefit  of  Ireland ;  but  when  a  system 
of  legal  obligation  has  been  there  constituted  to  satisfy  a  primary 
want — an  obligation  recognized  in  all  quarters  as  incumbent  on 
the  property  of  the  country — I  do  not  think  it  necessary  that 
this  fund  should  be  applied  in  relief  of  that  legal  obligation  on 
property.  I  think  we  should  be  guilty  of  a  great  breach  of  duty 
in  so  applying  it.  The  people  of  Ireland  are,  generally  speaking, 
Roman  Catholics,  and  I  am  ashamed  to  think  how  exceedingly 
small  a  portion  of  public  money  has  fallen  to  their  share  as 
Roman  Catholics.  The  mass  of  the  people  of  Ireland  are,  there- 
fore, entitled  to  be  made,  as  far  as  possible,  the  principal  re- 
cipients in  the  applications  of  the  fund.  I  will  venture  to  read 
to  the  committee  the  preamble  of  the  bill,  which  I  hope  will  be 
in  the  hands  of  members  to-morrow  night.  It  says  :  "  Whereas 
it  is  expedient  that  the  union  created  by  act  of  Parliament  be- 
tween the  Churches  of  England  and  Ireland,  as  by  law  estab- 
lished, should  be  dissolved,  and  that  the  Church  of  Ireland,  as  so 
separated,  should  cease  to  be  established  by  law,  and  that  after 
satisfying,  so  far  as  possible,  upon  principles  of  equality  as  be- 
tween the  several  religious  denominations  in  Ireland,  all  just 
and  equitable  claims,  the  property  of  the  said  Church  of  Ireland, 
or  the  proceeds  thereof,  should  be  held  and  applied  for  the 


326  GLADSTONE 

advantage  of  the  Irish  people,  but  not  for  the  maintenance  of 
any  Church  or  clergy  or  other  ministry,  nor  for  the  teaching  of 
religion ;  and  it  is  further  expedient  that  the  said  property,  or 
the  proceeds  thereof,  should  be  appropriated  mainly  to  the  re- 
lief of  unavoidable  calamity  and  suffering,  yet  so  as  not  to 
cancel  or  impair  the  obligations  now  attached  to  property  under 
the  act  for  the  relief  of  the  poor."  It  is  the  latter  part  of  the 
passage  which  defines  the  application  of  the  money.  There  is 
in  every  country  a  region  of  want  and  suffering  lying  between 
the  independent  part  of  the  community,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
the  purely  pauperized  population  on  the  other.  For  this  region 
of  want  and  suffering  it  is  very  hard  to  make  adequate  pro- 
vision by  the  poor-law,  which  is  almost  intended  to  be  niggard 
in  its  operations,  because,  if  it  were  made  liberal  and  large, 
the  risk  would  then  be  run  of  doing  the  greatest  possible  injury 
to  the  independent  laborer  struggling  to  maintain  himself.  The 
want  and  suffering  I  now  speak  of  are  partly  relieved,  not 
through  the  medium  of  the  poor-law,  but  through  the  medium 
of  the  county  cess — a  heavy  and  increasing  tax — not  divided, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  poor-rate,  between  owner  and  occupier, 
but  paid  only  by  the  occupier.  The  burden  of  this  tax  is  not 
limited,  like  the  poor-rate,  to  occupations  above  £4  in  value, 
but  descends  to  the  most  miserable  tenements,  the  holders  of 
which  are  required  to  pay  for  a  class  of  suffering  which  in 
every  Christian  country  should  be  relieved  by  a  large  and  liberal 
expenditure. 

Take,  first  of  all,  the  lunatic  asylums.  The  care  of  lunatics 
is  one  of  the  great  duties  of  the  community,  and  in  Ireland, 
though  the  provision  for  them  has  as  yet  by  no  means  over- 
taken the  whole  country,  the  cost  on  this  head  is  already  from 
£120,000  to  £140,000,  and  will  ultimately  rise  to  £200,000.  This 
expenditure  is  defrayed  by  the  county  cess,  collected  from  the 
class  of  occupiers  I  have  described.  The  case  of  the  deaf  and 
dumb  and  of  the  blind  is  the  next  melancholy  topic  I  will  refer 
to.  The  alleviation  of  the  condition  of  the  deaf,  the  dumb,  and 
the  blind,  scarcely  comes  within  the  province  of  the  poor-law, 
because  it  is  a  very  costly  matter.  You  will  keep  a  pauper  in  a 
workhouse,  and  keep  him  decently,  in  Ireland,  for  some  £7  or£8 
a  year ;  but  you  will  not  keep  these  classes — you  will  not  give 
to  the  deaf  and  dumb  and  the  blind  the  most  precious  boon  you 


THE   ESTABLISHED   CHURCH    IN    IRELAND  327 

can  give  them — that  is,  training  and  instruction — under,  per- 
haps, £30  or  £40  per  head  per  year.  It  is  no  common  act  to  train 
these  people  and  to  convey  to  them,  through  the  beneficial  chan- 
nels that  the  Almighty  has  given  us,  the  blessings  of  knowledge 
and  the  faculty  of  applying  their  bodily  powers  to  their  own 
support.  This  description  of  want  and  suffering  is  marked  out 
by  every  feature  that  can  recommend  it  for  the  application  of 
any  funds  like  these.  There  are  those  who  say  these  funds 
should  not  be  secularized.  I  respect  the  feelings  of  those  who 
are  against  the  secularization  of  such  funds ;  but  I  say  that  if 
we  go  back  to  the  history  of  ecclesiastical  property  in  Europe 
the  suggested  application  is  not  to  be  condemned  and  denounced 
as  secularization.  The  property  of  the  Church  was  divisible 
into  four  parts.  One  of  these  was  consecrated  to  the  use  of  the 
poor ;  and,  of  all  the  poor,  the  afflicted  cases  I  have  named  make 
the  strongest  appeal  to  human  compassion.  At  the  same  time, 
when  I  know  the  condition  of  the  Irish  peasant,  when  I  see  that 
the  charge  through  the  medium  of  the  county  cess  is  to  be  laid 
mainly  upon  him,  in  the  first  instance,  and  wholly  upon  him 
by  the  present  machinery  of  the  law,  I  hail  the  occasion  this 
gives  us  of  at  once  effecting  a  great  improvement  in  relieving 
the  Irish  occupier,  and  especially  the  poor  occupier,  from  an 
important  portion  of  his  burden,  and  of  providing  a  more  ample, 
a  more  uniform,  and  a  better  regulated  source  of  income  for 
the  relief  of  the  very  sorest  of  human  afflictions. 

The  general  framework  of  this  plan  will  be  developed  when 
the  third  of  the  days  I  have  described  is  arrived  at.  It  will  be 
the  duty  of  the  commission  to  report  to  the  Queen  that  pro- 
vision is  made  for  all  the  purposes  contemplated  in  the  act, 
and  it  will  be  their  duty  also  to  report  what  is  the  amount  of 
surplus  revenue  available  for  these  ulterior  purposes,  the  whole 
of  which  will  be  enumerated  in  the  bill.  I  will  not  trouble  the 
committee  now  by  reading  them.  I  will  not  say  whether  or  not 
it  might  be  necessary  to  resort  to  further  legislation  ;  but  these 
sums  would  be  administered,  not  under  any  system  wholly  new, 
but  they  would  be  administered  upon  principles  and  according 
to  rules  which  are  already  in  partial  and  imperfect  operation  in 
Ireland.  We  shall  escape  altogether  the  religious  difficulty, 
because  we  only  purpose  to  stand  upon  ground  the  firmness 
and  solidity  of  which  we  have  ascertained  by  experience,  and  to 


328  GLADSTONE 

make  these  sums  available  for  their  destined  application,  proba- 
bly in  most  cases  through  the  medium,  and  in  all  cases  under 
the  control — and  that  we  provide  in  the  bill — of  the  Poor-Law 
Commissioners  for  Ireland.  I  have  mentioned  lunatics  first  be- 
cause the  provision  to  be  made  for  lunatics  is  the  largest  of  all. 
Next  to  these  in  order  is  the  making  a  satisfactory  provision 
for  the  training  and  instruction  of  the  deaf  and  dumb  and  the 
blind.  I  beg  the  committee  to  understand  I  am  not  now  speak- 
ing of  institutions  in  which  the  deaf,  the  dumb,  and  the  blind, 
are  to  be  mewed  up  for  life,  but  simply  of  schools  in  which  they 
may  receive  that  kind  of  instruction  that  they  are  capable  of 
receiving  for  their  own  benefit;  then  to  go  out  again  into  the 
world  and  play  their  part,  so  far  as  Providence  permits,  as  useful 
members  of  society.  We  believe  that  a  good  system  in  aid  of 
the  poor-law  may  be  provided  for  that  class  of  persons  at  an 
expense  of  about  £30,000  a  year,  and  the  ultimate  expense  of 
the  provision  for  lunatics  would  be  £185,000  a  year.  The  pro- 
vision for  other  forms  of  mental  weakness  besides  that  I  have 
named — that  is,  for  idiots  and  others — might  cost  about  £20,000 
a  year. 

There  is  a  provision  urgently  needed  in  Ireland,  and  that 
is  a  supply  of  properly  trained  nurses  for  the  use  of  paupers 
and  for  the  poor  who  are  above  the  paupers.  The  Irish  medical 
men  are  known  for  their  skill,  but  they  are  scattered  over  the 
country  much  more  thinly  than  in  England.  The  unions  are 
large,  and  the  public  medical  officer  cannot  be  in  two  places  at 
once.  I  am  sorry  to  be  informed  upon  good  authority  that  the 
injuries  to  health,  and  even  to  life,  which  result  from  the  want 
of  skilled  nurses,  especially  for  women  in  labor,  are  grievous. 
The  Poor-Law  Guardians  shrink  from  incurring  the  necessary 
expense,  and  make  the  requisite  provision  in  very  few  cases ; 
but  for  a  sum  of  £15,000  nurses  might  be  provided  all  over  Ire- 
land. Reformatories  and  industrial  schools  languish  in  Ire- 
land ;  they  receive  parliamentary  grants ;  but  between  parlia- 
mentary grants  and  private  benevolence  they  are  inadequately 
supported.  We  shall  propose  to  the  committee  that  they  also 
be  included  as  recipients  of  £10,000  of  these  funds. 

There  is  another  charge,  and  that  is  for  county  infirmaries,  to 
which  I  must  call  the  particular  attention  of  Irish  members. 
The  infirmary  system  of  Ireland  is  at  present  charged  upon  the 


THE   ESTABLISHED   CHURCH   IN   IRELAND  329 

county  cess,  and  is  a  burden  on  the  poorest  occupiers  of  the 
land.  It  is  very  imperfect  in  two  particulars.  In  the  first  place, 
it  often  happens  that  the  infirmary  of  the  county,  though  in  the 
capital  of  the  county,  is  not  central ;  and,  although  it  is  sup- 
ported by  taxes  levied  from  the  whole  county,  it  is  really  a 
benefit  only  to  a  very  small  portion  of  it.  In  the  second  place, 
the  government  of  these  infirmaries  is  wholly  antiquated  and 
unsuitable,  and  needs  to  be  reformed.  The  sum  to  be  claimed 
by  the  county  infirmaries,  hospitals,  etc.,  may  be  put  down  at 
£51,000  a  year.  The  general  financial  result  is  that  I  have 
pointed  to  a  fund  of  between  seven  and  eight  millions,  and  the 
charges  which  will  be  most  likely  to  occur  under  these  heads, 
and  which  may  be  assumed  from  time  to  time  as  we  are  pro- 
vided with  the  means,  amount  to  £311,000  a  year. 

With  the  provision  of  all  these  requirements  I  think  we  should 
be  able  to  combine  very  great  reforms ;  we  shall  be  able  to  ap- 
ply strict  principles  of  economy  and  good  administration  to 
all  these  departments ;  we  shall  be  able  to  redivide  Ireland  into 
districts  around  county  infirmaries,  well  managed  and  gov- 
erned, and  so  disposed  as  greatly  to  increase  facility  of  ac- 
cess to  them.  Lastly,  I  have  to  mention  that  to  which  I  con- 
fess I  attach  very  great  value  and  importance.  It  should  be 
known  that  the  state  of  things  I  have  pointed  out  with  regard 
to  the  county  cess  has  attracted  the  attention  of  Irish  members, 
and  the  attention  of  a  committee  of  this  House,  which  has  rec- 
ommended that  the  county  cess  be  put  upon  the  same  footing 
as  the  poor-rate,  that  the  poorer  occupiers  be  relieved,  and  that 
the  payment  be  divided  between  the  landlord  and  the  tenant. 
We  certainly  shall  be  in  a  better  condition  for  inviting  the  Irish 
landlord  to  accede  to  that  change  when  we  are  able  to  offer,  as 
we  shall  offer  by  this  plan,  a  considerable  diminution  of  the 
burdens  of  the  county  cess.  This  is,  in  general  terms,  the  mode 
in  which  we  propose  to  apply  the  residue,  and  I  am  certain  I  am 
justified  in  inviting  the  serious  attention  of  the  House  to  the 
plan,  and  in  expressing  my  confident  expectation  and  belief  that 
the  more  it  is  examined,  the  more  will  members  find,  passing 
over  the  objections  they  may  have  to  disestablishment  and  dis- 
endowment,  that  it  is  a  good  and  solid  plan,  full  of  public  ad- 
vantage. 

I  believe  I  have  now  gone  through  the  chief  of  the  almost 


33o  GLADSTONE 

endless  arrangements,  and  I  have  laid  as  well  as  I  am  able  the 
plans  of  the  Government  before  the  committee.     I  will  not 
venture  to  anticipate  the  judgment  of  the  committee,  but  I 
trust  the  committee  will  be  of  opinion  it  is  a  plan  at  any  rate 
loyal  to  the  expectations  we  held  out  on  a  former  occasion,  and 
loyal  to  the  people  of  England  who  believed  our  promises.     I 
hope  also  the  members  of  the  committee  may  think  that  the  best 
pains  we  could  give  have  been  applied  in  order  to  develop  and 
mature  the  measure,  and  I  say  that  with  great  submission  to  the 
judgment  of  gentlemen  on  this  and  on  the  other  side  of  the 
House.     It  is  a  subject  of  legislation  so  exceedingly  com- 
plex and  varied  that  I  have  no  doubt  there  must  be  errors, 
there  must  be  omissions,  and  there  may  be  many  possible  im- 
provements ;  and  we  shall  welcome  from  every  side,  quite  ir- 
respective of  differences  of  opinion  on  the  outlines  of  the  meas- 
ure, suggestions  which,  when  those  outlines  are  decided  upon, 
may  tend  to  secure  a  more  beneficial  application  of  these  funds 
to  the  welfare  of  the  people  of  Ireland.     I  trust,  sir,  that  al- 
though its  operation  be  stringent,  and  although  we  have  not 
thought  it  either  politic  or  allowable  to  attempt  to  diminish  its 
stringency  by  making  it   incomplete,  the  spirit  towards  the 
Church  of  Ireland  as  a  religious  communion,  in  which  this 
measure  has  been  considered  and  prepared  by  my  colleagues  and 
myself,  has  not  been  a  spirit  of  unkindness. 

Perhaps  at  this  time  it  would  be  too  much  to  expect  to  obtain 
full  credit  for  any  declaration  of  that  kind.  We  are  undoubtedly 
asking  an  educated,  highly  respected,  and  generally  pious  and 
zealous  body  of  clergymen  to  undergo  a  great  transition  ;  we  are 
asking  a  powerful  and  intelligent  minority  of  the  laity  in  Ire- 
land, in  connection  with  the  Established  Church,  to  abate  a 
great  part  of  the  exceptional  privileges  they  have  enjoyed;  but 
I  do  not  feel  that  in  making  this  demand  upon  them  we  are 
seeking  to  inflict  an  injury.  I  do  not  believe  they  are  exclu- 
sively or  even  mainly  responsible  for  the  errors  of  English 
policy  towards  Ireland ;  I  am  quite  certain  that  in  many  vital 
respects  they  have  suffered  by  it ;  I  believe  that  the  free  air 
they  will  breathe  under  a  system  of  equality  and  justice,  giving 
scope  for  the  development  of  their  great  energies,  with  all  the 
powers  of  property  and  intelligence  they  will  bring  to  bear,  will 
make  that  Ireland  which  they  love  a  country  for  them  not  less 


THE   ESTABLISHED   CHURCH    IN    IRELAND  331 

enviable  and  not  less  beloved  in  the  future  than  it  has  been  in 
the  past.  As  respects  the  Church,  I  admit  it  is  a  case  almost 
without  exception.  I  do  not  know  in  what  country  so  great 
a  change,  so  great  a  transition,  has  been  proposed,  and  has  been 
embodied  in  a  legislative  provision,  by  which  the  ministers  of 
a  religious  communion  that  have  enjoyed  during  so  many  ages 
the  favored  position  of  an  established  church,  will  no  longer 
remain  in  that  position.  I  can  well  understand  that  to  many 
among  them  such  a  change  appears  to  be  nothing  less  than  ruin 
and  destruction.  From  the  height  on  which  they  now  stand 
to  the  apparent  abyss  into  which  they  think  they  will  have  to 
descend  there  is  something  that  recalls  the  words  used  in  "  King 
Lear,"  when  Edgar  endeavors  to  persuade  Gloucester  that  he 
has  fallen — from  the  cliffs  of  Dover.    He  says : 

"  Ten  masts  at  each  make  not  the  altitude 
Which  thou  hast  perpendicularly  fallen ; 
Thy  life's  a  miracle." 

And  yet  but  a  little  after  the  old  man  rallies  from  his  delusion, 
and  finds  that  he  has  not  fallen  at  all.  And  so  I  venture  to 
trust  that  when,  stripped  of  the  fictitious  and  adventitious  aid 
upon  which  we  have  too  long  taught  the  Irish  Establishment 
to  lean,  it  shall  come  to  place  its  trust  in  its  own  resources,  in 
its  own  secret  wisdom,  in  all  that  can  draw  forth  the  energies 
of  its  ministers  and  its  members,  and  the  high  hopes  and  prom- 
ises of  the  gospel  that  it  teaches,  it  will  find  that  it  has  entered 
upon  a  new  era  of  its  existence,  an  era  fraught  with  hope  and 
promise.  At  any  rate,  I  think  the  day  has  certainly  come  when 
an  end  has  finally  to  be  put  to  the  union,  not  between  the  Church 
as  a  religious  association,  but  between  the  Establishment  and 
the  State,  which  was  commenced  under  circumstances  little  au- 
spicious, and  which  has  continued  to  bear  fruits  of  unhappi- 
ness  to  Ireland,  and  of  discredit  and  scandal  to  England. 

Sir,  there  is  more  to  say.  This  measure  is  in  every  sense  a 
great  measure — great  in  its  principle,  great  in  the  multitude 
not  merely  of  its  technical  but  of  its  important,  weighty,  and  in- 
teresting provisions.  It  is  not  a  great  measure  only,  but  it  is 
a  testing  measure.  It  is  a  measure  which  will  show  to  one  and 
all  of  us  of  what  metal  we  are  made.  Upon  us  all  it  brings  a 
great  responsibility — first  and  foremost  undoubtedly  upon  us 


332  GLADSTONE 

who  occupy  this  bench.  We  are  deeply  chargeable — we  are 
deeply  guilty,  if  we  have  either  dishonestly,  as  some  think,  or  if 
we  have  even  prematurely  or  unwisely,  challenged  so  gigantic 
an  issue.  I  know  well  the  punishments  that  are  due  to  rashness 
in  public  men ;  and  that  ought  to  fall  upon  those  men  who  with 
hands  unequal  to  the  task  attempt  to  guide  the  chariot  of  the 
sun.  But  our  responsibility,  though  heavy,  is  not  exclusive.  It 
passes  on  from  us  to  every  man  who  has  to  take  part  in  the  dis- 
cussion and  in  the  decision  of  this  question.  Every  man  who 
proceeds  to  the  discussion  is  under  the  most  solemn  obligation 
to  raise  the  level  of  his  vision,  and  to  expand  its  scope  in  pro- 
portion to  the  greatness  of  the  object.  The  working  of  our 
constitutional  government  itself  is  upon  its  trial,  for  I  do  not 
believe  there  ever  was  a  time  when  the  whole  of  the  legislative 
machinery  was  set  in  motion  under  the  conditions  of  peace  and 
order  and  constitutional  regularity,  to  deal  with  a  question 
graver  or  more  profound.  And  more  especially  is  the  credit 
and  fame  of  this  great  assembly  involved.  This  assembly,  which 
has  inherited  from  so  many  long  ages  accumulated  honor  from 
numberless  triumphs  of  peaceful  but  courageous  legislation,  is 
now  called  upon  to  address  itself  to  a  task  which  would  indeed 
have  demanded  all  the  best  energies  of  the  very  best  of  your 
fathers  and  your  ancestors.  I  believe  it  will  prove  to  be  worthy 
of  the  task.  Should  it  fail,  even  the  fame  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons will  suffer  no  disparagement ;  should  it  succeed,  even  that 
fame,  I  venture  to  say,  will  receive  no  small  nor  insensible  ad- 
dition. I  must  not  ask  gentlemen  opposite  to  concur  in  these 
few  sentences,  grateful  as  I  am  to  them  for  the  kindness  with 
which  they  have  heard  the  statement  which  I  have  made.  But  I 
beg  and  pray  them  to  bear  with  me  for  a  moment  while,  for  my- 
self and  my  colleagues,  I  say  that  we  are  sanguine  of  the  issue. 
We  believe  this  controversy  is  near  its  end,  and,  for  my  part, 
I  am  deeply  convinced  that,  when  the  day  of  final  consummation 
shall  arise,  and  when  the  words  are  spoken  that  give  the  force 
of  law  to  the  work  embodied  in  this  measure — a  work  of  peace 
and  justice — those  words  will  be  echoed  from  every  shore  where 
the  name  of  Ireland  and  the  name  of  Great  Britain  have  been 
heard  ;  and  the  answer  to  them  will  come  back  in  the  approving 
verdict  of  civilized  mankind. 


PEACE    AND    WAR 


BY 


JOHN     BRIGHT 


JOHN   BRIGHT 

i8u— 1889 

The  friends  of  peace  in  modern  civilized  countries  have  always  had 
the  regard  and  respect  of  the  people ;  though  these  sentiments  are  gen- 
erally accompanied  by  an  intimation  of  kindly  scepticism  as  to  the 
practical  result  of  their  labors.  The  condition  of  the  world  is  still  so 
far  from  perfect,  and  the  abuses  which  exist  are  so  firmly  established 
in  most  cases,  that  the  average  man  of  the  world  feels  inclined  to  disbe- 
lieve that  any  remedy  except  the  old  one  of  force  will  suffice  to  remove 
them.  External  peace,  in  other  words,  cannot  be  brought  about  while 
war  exists  internally ;  or  if  it  could,  its  best  blessing  would  be  lost. 
While  we  are  kindly  disposed  towards  the  apostles  of  peace,  therefore, 
we  incline  to  regard  them  as  impracticable  enthusiasts,  and  to  listen  to 
their  exhortations  with  a  smile. 

But  when  a  man  like  John  Bright  uplifts  his  voice  in  support  of  the 
peace  men,  and  urges  his  views  with  eloquent  arguments,  and  a  long 
life  of  devotion,  we  cannot  choose  but  listen,  and  profit  by  what  we 
hear.  For  after  all,  the  way  to  universal  peace  is  by  individual  unself- 
ishness ;  and  the  utterances  of  men  like  Bright  tend  to  show  us  how 
to  be  unselfish,  and  demonstrate  the  enormous  benefits  that  would 
accrue  from  a  practical  application  in  society  of  the  principles  of  Chris- 
tianity. We  listen  to  a  disciple  who  is  himself  an  illustration  of  the 
doctrine  he  preaches;  why  should  we  not  become  his  fellow  disciple, 
and  use  our  influence  to  win  other  supporters?  Thus  there  is  no 
estimating  how  much  Bright  and  others  of  his  creed  have  done  or  may 
do  towards  hastening  the  advent  of  the  millennium. 

John  Bright  was  born  in  181 1,  the  son  of  a  rich  manufacturer,  and 
was  himself  always  a  man  of  large  wealth.  He  early  formed  a  friend- 
ship with  Cobden,  and  supported  him  in  his  advocacy  of  free  trade.  He 
entered  Parliament  in  1843 ;  in  1868  he  became  President  of  the  Board 
of  Trade;  was  afterwards  chancellor  of  the  duchy  of  Lancaster;  and 
in  1883  was  elected  Rector  of  Glasgow  University.  The  individuality 
of  his  opinions,  and  his  strict  conscientiousness,  constantly  compelled 
him  to  oppose  the  policy  of  the  existing  Government,  whatever  party 
was  in  control.  He  was  compelled  even  to  abandon  his  old  friend,  Glad- 
stone, when  the  latter,  as  Prime  Minister,  permitted  the  bombardment 
of  Alexandria.  That  part  of  his  career  which  produced  the  most  useful 
and  tangible  practical  results,  was  during  the  time  that  he  was  making 
speeches  against  the  Corn  Laws.  He  rivalled  Cobden  himself  in  the 
conviction  which  he  produced  upon  his  hearers,  and  in  the  instruction 
he  insinuated  into  their  minds.  There  was  a  luminousness  and  eleva- 
tion about  Bright's  oratory  which  was  unlike  the  style  of  any  other 
public  man  of  his  time ;  and  the  fascination  of  his  address  is  irresistible. 
His  personal  appearance  and  manner  were  grave  and  winning,  and  his 
voice  was  the  fitting  and  flexible  vehicle  of  his  thoughts.  He  died  on 
March  27,  1889.  His  speech  on  "  Peace  and  War  "  is  a  good  example 
of  his  style. 


334 


PEACE   AND   WAR 

Delivered  at  Llandudno,  November  22,  18/6,  at  the  close  of 
a  lecture  on  "  International  Arbitration,"  by  the  Rev.  W. 
Glover. 

IT  gave  me  great  pleasure  two  or  three  days  ago  to  see  on  the 
walls  of  your  town  a  placard  announcing  that  Mr.  Glover 
was  about  to  come  amongst  you  to  deliver  a  lecture  upon 
the  momentous  question  of  peace  and  war,  and  I  received — I 
don't  know  whether  it  was  a  deputation  or  not — but  I  had  an 
interview  with  three  of  your  townsmen,  much  respected  and  in- 
fluential amongst  you,  who  did  me  the  honor  of  asking  me  to  at- 
tend this  meeting,  and  to  add  whatever  I  might  be  able  to  add 
to  the  arguments  which  would  be  brought  before  you  by  the 
lecturer.  I  could  not  well  resist  the  urgent  invitation  which 
was  offered  me.  I  am  not,  as  you  know,  what  is  called  a  resi- 
dent of  Llandudno,  but  I  have  been  here  almost  every  year  for 
more  than  twenty  years  past,  and  I  felt  that  I  had  something  like 
a  special  interest  in  the  people  amongst  whom  I  had  spent  so 
much  time  during  many  months  in  the  year.  I  was  laboring 
under  serious  and  prolonged  illness  during  one  visit  which  my 
family  paid  to  this  place ;  we  were  struck  by  a  very  heavy  and 
grievous  affliction.  These  things  dwell  in  memory,  and  they 
strengthen  and  deepen  the  interest  which  they  feel,  and  which  I 
feel,  for  everything  connected  with  the  interests  of  this  town. 
And  I  may  say  that  I  have  watched  its  growth  and  its  increasing 
prosperity  with  as  much  interest  as  if  I  had  been  settled  per- 
manently amongst  you.  And  when  I  look  at  the  position  of 
our  town  and  its  beautiful  bay,  when  I  look  around  and  see  the 
beauties  of  our  locality,  when  I  remember  how  near  you  are  to 
all  the  finest  scenery  of  this  glorious  North  Wales,  and  when 
I  observe  and  enjoy  the  beauty  of  our  climate,  which  in  winter, 
I  believe,  is  not  surpassed  by  that  of  any  other  place  in  the 

335 


336  BRIGHT 

United  Kingdom,  and  when  I  remember  all  the  courtesy  and 
all  the  kind  attention  which  I  have  met,  I  am  free  to  say  that  I 
have  great  faith  in  your  future,  and  I  hope  and  believe  that  your 
growth  and  prosperity  will  be  continued,  and  will  be  lasting. 
The  lecture  which  we  have  heard — and  which,  I  am  afraid, 
the  modesty  of  Mr.  Glover  has  induced  him,  because  I  was  to 
follow  him,  to  cut  shorter  than  he  would  have  otherwise  done — 
is  one  which  has  interested  me  very  much,  and  I  think  it  is  well 
timed.     For  there  could  scarcely  be  a  period  within  our  recol- 
lection— not  more  than  one  or  two,  I  think — when  questions 
of  greater  importance  were  stirring  the  minds  of  the  people 
from  one  end  of  the  kingdom  to  the  other.     It  is  to  me  astound- 
ing when  I  look  back  and  see  what  has  been  the  error  and  the 
folly  into  which  the  people  of  this  country  have  been  led  in  time 
past  upon  the  question  of  war.     We  live  in  two  considerable 
islands — Great  Britain  and  Ireland.     We  are  separated  from 
the  Continent  by  a  sea  passage,  which  in  itself  is  a  great  de- 
fence, and  we  have  been  for  about  three  hundred  years  unas- 
sailed,  and  believe,  with  our  population,  and  our  wealth,  and  our 
means,  and  our  freedom,  we  are  practically  more  unassailable 
than  almost  any  other  kingdom  in  the  world.     And  yet,  not- 
withstanding all  that,  we  have  spent,  probably,  in  a  period  that 
does  not  go  back  beyond  the  lifetime  of  persons  now  living, 
two  thousand  millions  of  money  in  war,  all  of  which,  I  believe, 
might   with   honor   have   been   avoided,   and   in    needless   or 
excessive    armaments    in    preparing    for    war.     Mr.    Glover 
has    referred    to   the   fifty    millions   which   we   are    spending 
every  year — one  half  of  it  paying  the  interest  of  money  bor- 
rowed to  carry  on  wars  in  past  time,  and  the  other  half  spent  an- 
nually on  the  army  and  navy  for  the  purposes  of  supposed 
events,  or  for  purposes  of  war  in  which  we  may  be  hereafter  in- 
volved.    Mr.  Glover  quoted  an  expression  of  Lord  Russell's, 
that  he  doubted  whether  there  had  been  any  war  during  the  last 
hundred  years  that  might  not  have  been  avoided  without  any 
sacrifice  of  the  interests  or  honor  of  this  country,  by  those  rea- 
sonable concessions  which  we  are  constantly  making  amongst 
each  other  as  individuals,  and  which  would  be  in  no  degree  in- 
jurious or  dishonorable  if  made  between  nations. 

A  hundred  years  ago — just  a  hundred  years  ago  this  very 
year — this  country  was  engaged  in  a  war  with  the  colonies  now 


PEACE   AND    WAR 


337 


forming  the  United  States  of  America.  What  happened  when 
that  war  was  over?  A  change  of  opinion  extraordinary — no, 
not  extraordinary,  for  it  always  takes  place — but  a  change  of 
opinion  very  remarkable.  Whilst  the  war  was  going  on  people 
in  many  parts  of  the  country  were  in  favor  of  it,  and  the  King 
and  his  ministers  were  doggedly  determined  to  continue  the 
war.  But  a  few  years  after  it  was  over  everybody  condemned 
it,  and  now,  probably,  there  is  no  single  man  in  this  country,  of 
any  political  party,  however  benighted,  however  ignorant,  how- 
ever positive,  however  unteachable,  who  would  not  condemn 
the  folly  and  wickedness  of  that  war  with  the  American  colon- 
ies. Well,  but  that  war  was  supposed  to  have  cost  this  country 
close  upon  one  hundred  millions  of  money,  and  it  left  between 
the  inahibtants  of  these  colonies — grown  now  to  be  a  great  na- 
tion, even  greater  in  numbers  than  this,  so  far  as  the  population 
of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  may  be  counted — it  left  feelings  of 
anger  and  bitterness  which  are  now  only  slowly  passing  away 
from  amongst  us.  But  after  the  American  War  was  over  only 
a  few  years  we  engaged  in  another  and  still  greater  and  more 
prolonged  struggle  with  the  republic  of  France  ;  and  the  reason 
we  went  into  war  with  France  was  because  France  was  a  repub- 
lic, and  held  opinions  supposed  to  be  dangerous  to  the  mon- 
archy and  aristocracy  of  this  country ;  and  that  war  was  con- 
tinued afterwards  for  the  overthrow  of  the  Emperor  Napoleon, 
and  concluded,  after  about  twenty-two  years'  existence.  The 
cost  to  this  country,  I  dare  say,  all  told,  was  a  thousand  millions 
sterling;  and  yet  now  everybody — nobody  more  than  Lord 
Russell — everybody,  or  almost  everybody,  condemns  that  war ; 
and  I  believe  that  by  greater  moderation  and  greater  wisdom  on 
the  part  of  the  government  and  the  press  and  the  people  of  this 
country  it  might  have  been  avoided.  It  left  us  with  five  hun- 
dred millions  of  debt,  accumulated,  in  addition  to  the  previous 
debts,  during  the  continuance  of  that  one  single  but  prolonged 
struggle.  We  condemned,  as  I  said,  the  American  War  a  few 
years  after  it  was  over ;  I  mean  that  your  forefathers  did. 
Our  fathers  condemned  the  French  war  not  long  after  it  was 
over;  and  since  then  we  have  had  another  war  of  great 
magnitude,  but  not  of  very  long  continuance,  to  which  Mr. 
Glover  has  referred,  which  generally  goes  by  the  name  of  the 
Crimean  War — war  with  Russia — the  main  portion  of  the  strug- 

VOL.  II.— 22 


338  BRIGHT 

gle  taking  place  in  the  Crimea.  But  now,  as  far  as  I  can  judge, 
everybody — perhaps  I  ought  not  to  say  "  everybody,"  because, 
perhaps,  Her  Majesty's  ministers  would  not  agree  with  me,  but 
nearly  everybody  condemns  that  war ;  and  I  think  every  single 
man  who  knows  anything  about  it  would  admit  that  we  gained 
absolutely  nothing  but  discredit  and  loss — loss  of  life  and  in- 
creased debt — from  the  struggle  which  this  country  carried  on 
with  Russia  twenty-two  years  ago.  In  the  placard  to  which  I 
have  referred  calling  this  meeting  there  is  a  statement  of  how 
much  is  spent  every  year  in  armaments  and  matters  connected 
with  wars  past  or  to  come — how  much  a  month,  how  much  a 
week,  how  much  a  day,  how  much  an  hour,  and  I  don't  know 
whether  it  is  not  my  duty  to  say  how  much  per  minute.  But 
now  take  another  illustration.  You  can  form  some  idea  of  an 
estate  of  two  thousand  acres  of  the  best  land  in  your  Welsh 
counties,  and  you  will  perhaps  be  surprised  when  I  tell  you  that 
our  expenditure  of  fifty  millions  per  year  for  past  wars  and 
for  present  military  expenses  is  equal  to  the  swallowing  up  every 
day  for  the  six  working  days  of  every  week  during  the  year  of  an 
estate  of  that  magnitude.  Now,  can  it  be  possible  that  any- 
thing like  this  is  necessary?  It  seems  to  me  that  the  whole 
world  is  wrong;  that  everything  is  wrong  in  the  creation  and 
arrangement  of  the  conditions  under  which  men  live  on  this 
earth,  if  man  himself  is  not  very  wrong,  having  brought  matters 
to  this  dreadful  condition. 

Take  the  last  great  case  that  I  have  referred  to — the  case  of 
the  Russian  or  Crimean  War.  At  the  time  when  it  was  being 
waged  there  was  not  one  man  in  twenty  who  really  knew  any- 
thing about  it.  At  this  moment  I  don't  believe  you  could  find 
one  man  in  a  hundred  throughout  England  who  could  give  you 
any  clear  account  of  the  war — the  progress  of  negotiations,  the 
difficulties  which  were  met  with,  and  which  were  not  overcome, 
and,  finally,  of  the  state  of  things  which  precipitated  the  catas- 
trophe and  brought  on  that  lamentable  and  most  inglorious 
struggle.  But  now  look  back  to  the  passions  which  were  ex- 
hibited at  that  time.  You  see  what  a  change  has  come.  Like  as 
it  was  with  the  American  War,  that  was  condemned ;  as  it  was 
after  the  French  War,  that  was  condemned ;  so  it  is  now  after 
the  Russian  War,  that  is  all  but  universally  condemned,  so  that 
we  have  come — I  believe  the  nation  has  come  mainly  and  by  a 


PEACE   AND    WAR  339 

vast  majority — to  the  conclusion  that  the  object  was  unworthy 
of  our  efforts,  and  that  the  result  was  absolute  and  entire  failure. 
But  leaving  for  a  moment  the  question  of  expense,  I  will  ask 
you  to  consider  the  question  of  the  loss  of  life.  Mr.  Glover 
has  told  you  not  one-twentieth  of  the  loss  of  life  in  that  war.  A 
most  minute  and  careful  history  of  the  war  has  been  written  by 
a  gentleman  with  whom  I  am  acquainted,  who  was  in  Parlia- 
ment for  several  years,  very  near  where  I  sat — Mr.  Kinglake — 
who  has  paid  most  scrupulous  attention  to  every  fact  with  re- 
gard to  the  war,  and  I  see  it  quoted  from  his  book  that  he  be- 
lieves, first  and  last,  that  not  less  than  one  million  of  men  lost 
their  lives  in  connection  with  that  struggle.  Remember  who 
were  concerned.  The  chief  were  Russia,  Turkey,  England, 
France,  and  the  kingdom  of  Sardinia,  which  is  now  the  king- 
dom of  Italy.  The  French  lost  more  men,  I  believe,  than  we 
did,  the  Turks  possibly  more  than  either  of  them ;  the  loss  of 
Russia  is  not  to  be  counted ;  and  we  stand  now  in  this  lamenta- 
ble and  terrible  condition,  that  we  were  the  country  that  went 
rashly  and  violently  and  passionately  into  the  war.  We  have 
not  a  single  thing  of  the  slightest  value  to  show  for  it,  but  on  the 
other  side  we  have  that  vast  loss  of  treasure,  and  sacrifice  and 
slaughter  of  a  million  of  human  beings. 

Some  people  think  that  the  loss  of  life  in  war  is  a  very  com- 
mon thing,  and  that  it  is  not  worth  talking  about.  They  think  a 
soldier  takes  his  wages  and  stands  his  chance.  I  recollect  being 
disgusted  during  the  time  of  the  war  by  the  observation  of  a 
gentleman  at  the  dinner  of  a  person  of  high  rank  in  this  country, 
and  of  the  party  by  whom  the  war  was  originated.  He  said: 
"  As  for  the  men  that  are  killed,  I  think  nothing  of  that.  A 
man  can  only  die  once,  and  it  does  not  matter  very  much  where 
he  dies  or  how  he  dies."  Now  I  think  it  matters  a  good  deal. 
It  matters  a  good  deal  to  widows  and  orphans,  and  sisters  and 
friends.  It  matters  a  good  deal  to  thousands,  scores  of  thou- 
sands, and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  men  who  are  cut  off  in  the 
very  flower  of  their  youth,  that  they  should  be  thrust  with  the 
passionate  thrust  of  a  bayonet,  or  rent  asunder  by  shot  and  shell 
— killed  it  may  be  at  once,  or  left  lingering  on  the  field  or  in  hos- 
pital, dying  of  intense  and  inconceivable  agonies.  What  is  it 
that  is  so  valuable  as  life  ?  What  happens  if  some  unfortunate 
visitor  to  this  place,  or  unfortunate  and  helpless  boatman  is 


34°  BRIGHT 

drowned  in  your  bay?  Does  it  not  make  a  sensation  in  your 
community?  Is  there  not  a  feeling  of  grief  that  passes  from 
heart  to  heart  until  there  is  not  one  man,  woman,  or  child 
amongst  you  that  did  not  feel  that  a  calamity  has  happened 
in  your  neighborhood  ?  And  what  if  there  be  a  wreck  ?  I  was 
in  this  neighborhood  two  or  three  days  after  the  wreck  of  the 
"  Rothesay  Castle,"  forty-five  or  forty-six  years  ago,  and  I  sup- 
pose nearly  a  hundred  men  and  women  were  drowned  on  that 
occasion.  I  was  down  at  the  scene  of  the  wreck  of  the  "  Royal 
Charter  "  only  a  few  years  ago,  when  nearly  four  hundred  per- 
sons were  drowned.  Did  it  matter  nothing?  I  saw  a  poor, 
gray-headed  man  there  wandering  along  the  beach,  as  he  wan- 
dered day  after  day  in  hope,  not  that  he  might  find  his  son  alive, 
but  that  he  might  find  even  the  dead  body  of  his  son,  that  he 
might  be  comforted  by  giving  it  a  fitting  burial.  These  things 
gave  a  shock  to  the  whole  district,  to  the  whole  nation,  and 
rightly  and  inevitably  so.  Look,  again,  to  the  accidents  on 
railways.  Take  the  sad  accident  in  this  county — the  most  ap- 
palling that  has  ever  happened  on  any  railway  in  this  kingdom 
— I  mean  the  accident  at  Abergele,  when  men  were  destroyed  in 
a  moment,  apparently,  without  a  moment's  warning.  Take  the 
terrible  accidents  that  happen  from  time  to  time  in  the  collieries 
in  various  parts  of  the  country.  See  what  woe  is  caused  by 
them,  and  remember,  as  you  must  remember,  how  every  family 
in  the  country  is  stirred  and  filled  with  grief  at  the  narrative  of 
the  disasters  that  have  occurred.  Well,  now,  take  other  things 
that  happen  that  distress  us  connected  with  the  loss  of 
life.  Take  the  private  murders  that  are  committed  throughout 
the  kingdom,  and  hangings  that  take  place  of  the  criminals  who 
have  been  guilty  of  these  murders.  All  these  things  fill  us  at 
times  with  sorrow,  and  cover  our  feelings  and  our  hearts  with 
gloom ;  and  now  take  together  all  the  accidents  from  boats 
that  you  have  ever  heard  of,  all  the  accidents  from  shipwrecks 
that  have  ever  been  recorded  ;  take  all  the  accidents  on  railways 
since  railways  were  first  made,  and  all  the  accidents  in  mines 
since  the  bowels  of  the  earth  were  penetrated  to  obtain  coal  for 
the  use  of  man ;  and  besides  these  take  all  the  lamentable  pri- 
vate murders  which  have  been  caused  by  passion,  or  cupidity, 
or  vengeance ;  and  take  all  the  hangings  of  all  the  criminals — 
and  there  have  been  far  too  many  under  the  law  of  this  country 


PEACE   AND   WAR  341 

— more  brutal  in  this  matter,  I  believe,  in  past  times  than  even 
now,  and  than  the  laws  of  any  other  Christian  country — I  say 
take  all  these  phases  of  destruction  of  human  life,  add  them  all 
together,  and  bring  them  into  one,  bring  them  all  into  one  great 
sum,  and  what  are  they  in  comparison  with  the  millions  of 
human  beings  who  have  been  destroyed  and  slaughtered  in  a 
single  Russian  war?  And  the  war  only  lasted  two  years,  and 
the  French  war  lasted  more  than  twenty  years.  Almost  half  the 
time  from  the  accession  of  William  III  in  this  country  up  to 
1875 — almost  if  not  more  than  half  that  time — this  Christian 
country  was  engaged  in  sanguinary  struggles  with  some  other 
so-called  Christian  nations  on  the  Continent  of  Europe.  Now, 
seeing  what  was  paid  for  the  Russian  War,  and  seeing  what  an 
entire  failure  it  turned  out  with  regard  to  the  pretended  objects 
which  it  was  supposed  likely  to  secure — the  people  of  England 
did  not  go  into  war  in  their  passionate  moments  without  some 
idea  that  some  good  is  to  follow — seeing  how  much  we  have  lost, 
and  how  great  was  the  crime  we  committed,  is  it  not  astounding 
there  should  be  any  man,  much  more  than  that  man  should  be 
in  the  lofty  position  of  Prime  Minister — ruler  of  this  nation — 
who  should  by  unadvised,  unwise  speaking  invite  the  nation  to 
involve  itself  in  another  war  that  may  be  no  less  prolonged,  that 
may  cause  equal  loss  and  equal  slaughter,  and  that  undoubtedly 
will  result  in  a  total  failure,  as  the  war  twenty-two  years  ago 
which  we  had. 

And  it  is  the  old  story  now  just  as  it  was  in  those  days — 
that  Russia  is  an  aggressive  power.  I  am  afraid  almost  all 
powers,  as  opportunity  offers,  have  been  aggressive ;  but  he 
would  be  a  most  ingenious  calculator  who  could  show  that 
there  was  any  power  in  the  wide  world  that  during  the  last 
hundred  years  has  been  more  aggressive  than  that  power  of 
which  we  in  this  meeting  form  a  humble  and  small  party.  It 
is  said  now,  as  it  was  said  then,  that  Russia  was  aggressive,  and 
that  Russia  intended  to  conquer  Turkey,  and  capture  and  hold 
Constantinople,  and  to  dominate  alike  over  Europe  and  over 
Asia.  There  was  not  the  slightest  proof  of  it.  All  the  proof 
was  the  other  way.  Russia  from  the  beginning  of  these  dis- 
turbances has  made  the  most  distinct  and  frank  offers  to  the 
English  government  as  to  the  terms  in  which  the  Russian  gov- 
ernment and  people  believe  that  peace  might  be  made,  to  the 


342  BRIGHT 

enormous  and  permanent  advantage  of  the  Christian  subjects 
of  the  Porte.  It  is  said — it  was  said  then — that  Turkey  was 
the  only  safe  keeper  of  the  straits  of  the  Bosphorus  and  the  Dar- 
danelles— that  is,  the  straits  which  lead  from  the  Black  Sea  to 
the  Mediterranean.  There  was  no  proof  that  Turkey  is  the 
safe  keeper  of  those  straits.  The  Porte  held  those  straits  for 
three  hundred  years,  and  would  not  allow  any  mercantile  ship 
to  pass  through  them,  and  it  was  only  by  the  power  of  Russia, 
and  by  a  treaty  with  Russia,  after  the  war  with  Russia,  that  these 
straits  were  opened  to  the  navigation  of  the  mercantile  ships  of 
the  world.  And  no  doubt  the  time  will  come,  and  must  come, 
when  these  straits  will  be  opened,  not  only  to  mercantile  ships, 
but  to  the  ships  of  the  navies  of  all  nations  of  the  world. 
Now  and  at  a  former  time  it  was  said,  too,  that  Eng- 
land's interests  were  at  stake — interests  in  India  and  interests 
in  the  Levant.  There  was  no  proof  of  it  then ;  there  is  no  proof 
of  it  now.  Of  all  the  speakers  in  public,  of  all  the  writers  in 
the  press  who  have  written  against  Russia  in  this  matter  and 
in  favor  of  Turkey,  and  in  favor  of  war,  there  is  not  one  of 
them  who  has  been  able  to  lay  down  accurately  and  dis- 
tinctly any  kind  of  proof  that  the  interests  or  honor  of  Eng- 
land were  concerned  in  the  course  we  have  taken  with  regard  to 
this  great  Eastern  question.  Why,  if  you  were  some  poor  and 
hapless  criminal  brought  to  trial  before  one  of  your  courts,  and 
before  a  jury,  if  liberty  only  is  at  stake,  there  is  more  care  still. 
You  have  advocates  on  each  side,  you  have  witnesses  for  the 
prosecution  and  for  the  defence,  you  have  an  impartial  jury, 
and  the  judge  is  careful  that  nothing  shall  be  said  against  the 
prisoner  that  is  not  proved,  and  he  warns  the  jury  against  be- 
ing actuated  by  prejudice,  and  to  put  away  what  they  have 
heard  before  the  trial  comes  on,  and  he  entreats  them,  if  there 
be  any  feature  in  the  case  which  can  leave  a  doubt  on  the  mind 
of  any  one  of  them  as  to  the  guilt  of  the  poor  wretch  at  the  bar, 
that  they  shall  give  their  verdict  in  his  favor.  But  here  you  go 
into  a  great  transaction,  a  great  war,  you  spend  your  millions  of 
money,  you  send  your  brothers  and  sons  to  the  slaughter,  and 
you  condemn  to  death,  it  may  be,  as  in  the  last  case,  a  million 
of  human  beings,  and  you  have  not  got  a  single  definite  or 
proved  fact  to  justify  the  course  you  have  taken. 

I  deny  altogether  that  there  is  anything  in  the  aggressive 


PEACE  AND   WAR  343 

character  of  Russia,  or  anything  with  regard  to  the  guardian- 
ship of  the  straits,  or  anything  with  which  the  honor  and  the 
interests  of  England  is  concerned,  to  justify  us  in  the  course  we 
are  taking  with  regard  to  this  matter,  or  that  justified  us  twenty 
years  ago  in  that  war,  or  would  justify  us  now  if  the  government 
were  to  involve  the  country  in  another  struggle.  Look  at  the 
map  of  Europe  and  measure  the  distance  from  London,  or  if 
you  like  from  the  Land's  End,  round  by  Gibraltar,  the  whole 
length  of  the  Mediterranean,  through  the  Sea  of  Marmora  to 
Constantinople,  you  will  find  that  we  are  close  upon  three 
thousand  miles  away.  Does  any  man  believe  that  the  honor 
and  interests  of  England  are  so  involved  in  the  question  of  ter- 
ritory or  of  conquest  in  that  part  of  the  world,  that  it  can  jus- 
tify us  in  vast,  tremendous,  and  incalculable  sacrifices  for  a  war 
of  this  nature  ?  The  nations  that  are  nearer  to  Russia  are  not 
afraid  of  her.  Germany  is  a  powerful  country,  and  Austria 
is  powerful,  though  less  powerful  than  Germany ;  but  both  of 
them  have  interests  as  direct  and  as  clear  as  any  interest  that 
we  can  pretend  to  have,  and  yet  they  can  be  tranquil.  They  do 
not  get  into  a  passion.  Their  Prime  Ministers  do  not  speak — 
what  shall  I  call  it? — rhodomontade  and  balderdash.  They  do 
not  blow  the  trumpet  and  call  the  nations  to  arms  for  purely 
fancied  causes,  like  those  in  which — I  say  it  with  as  much  sin- 
cerity as  ever  I  have  said  anything  in  my  life — in  which  we 
have  as  much  interest  as  would  justify  us  in  sending  one 
single  man  to  slaughter.  But  I  hope  and  I  believe  that  out 
of  this  matter  there  will  not  be  war.  The  statements  that  are 
offered  to  us  in  the  newspapers  this  morning  appear  to  me  as 
likely  very  much  to  soothe  anxieties  which  we  sometimes  feel 
upon  this  matter.  There  is  a  conversation  which  has  taken 
place  between  the  English  minister  to  Russia  and  the  Emperor 
of  Russia.  I  believe  no  man  in  the  world  who  knows  anything 
about  the  Emperor  of  Russia  doubted  for  a  moment  that  he 
at  least  is  as  anxious  for  peace  as  any  of  the  statesmen  of  either 
party  in  this  country — and  I  think  the  explicit  declarations 
which  he  has  made  are  immensely  to  his  credit — not  merely  the 
opinions  which  he  holds  and  which  he  has  declared  ;  but  in  his 
position  he  has  condescended  to  make  these  expressive  declara- 
tions with  a  view  to  appeal  to  the  common-sense  and  good- 
sense,  the  peaceful  feeling  if  you  like,  the  Christian  and  human 


■7AA  BRIGHT 

feeling,  of  the  population  of  England.  Now,  the  public,  notwith- 
standing what  I  say,  are  not  wholly  free  from  terror  and  from 
suspicion  of  the  Russian  power,  but  their  conscience  has  been 
touched  by  some  knowledge  of  the  past,  and  by  the  horrors 
committed  by  the  Turks,  of  which,  bad  as  they  are,  only 
a  faint  outline  has  been  fully  narrated  to  us  even  by  the  corre- 
spondents of  the  London  papers.  But  they  hesitate  still,  and  I 
believe  they  will  not  be  dragged  into  war  at  the  bidding  of  any 
minister.  If  public  opinion  be  right,  the  government,  I  think, 
in  this  matter  will  not  go  wrong. 

There  is  one  point  with  regard  to  this  question,  not  with 
regard  to  the  Eastern  question,  but  rather  with  regard  to  the 
question  which  was  specially  brought  before  us  by  Mr.  Glover 
in  his  interesting  speech,  on  which  I  would  like  to  make  two  or 
three  observations.  I  think  we  ought  to  begin  to  ask  ourselves 
how  it  is  that  Christian  nations  should  be  involved  in  so  many 
wars?  If  one  may  presume  to  ask  one's  self  what,  in  the  eye 
of  the  Supreme  Ruler,  is  the  greatest  crime  which  His  creatures 
commit,  I  think  we  may  almost  with  certainty  conclude  that  it 
is  the  crime  of  war.  Someone  has  described  it  as  the  sum 
of  all  villanies.  It  has  been  the  cause  of  sufferings,  misery,  and 
slaughter  which  neither  tongue  nor  pen  can  ever  describe,  and 
all  this  has  been  going  on  for  eighteen  hundred  years  after  men 
have  adopted  the  religion  whose  founder  and  whose  head  is  de- 
nominated the  Prince  of  Peace.  It  was  announced  as  a  religion 
which  was  intended  to  bring  "  peace  on  earth,  and  good-will 
toward  men  " ;  and  yet,  after  all  these  years,  peace  on  earth  has 
not  come,  and  the  good-will  among  men  is  only  partially  and 
occasionally  exhibited,  and  amongst  nations  we  find  almost  no 
trace  of  it  century  after  century.  Now,  in  this  country  we  have 
a  great  institution  called  the  Established  Church.  I  suppose 
that  great  institution  numbers  20,000  or  more  places  of  worship, 
churches  in  various  parts  of  the  kingdom.  I  think  this  does 
not  include  what  there  are  in  Scotland  and  Ireland.  With  these 
20,000  churches  there  are  at  least  20,000  men,  educated  and  for 
the  most  part  Christian  men,  anxious  to  do  their  duty  as  teach- 
ers of  the  religion  of  peace  ;  and  besides  these  there  are  20,000 
other  churches  which  are  not  connected  with  the  established 
institution,  but  have  been  built  and  are  maintained  by  that 
portion  of  the  people  who  go  generally  under  the  name  of  Dis- 


PEACE  AND  WAR  345 

senters  or  Nonconformists,  and  they  have  other  20,000  min- 
isters also — men  as  well  educated  in  the  bulk,  as  much  Christian 
and  devoted  men,  as  the  others,  and  they  are  at  work  contin- 
ually, from  day  to  day,  and  they  preach  from  Sabbath  to  Sab- 
bath what  they  believe  to  be  the  doctrines  of  the  Prince  of 
Peace ;  and  yet,  notwithstanding  all  that,  war,  profligate  war, 
is  either  just  behind  us  or  it  is  just  before  us,  and  we  have  twen- 
ty-five or  twenty-six  millions  a  year  spent  in  sustaining  armies 
and  navies  in  view  of  wars  which  may  suddenly  and  soon  take 
place.  Now,  why  is  it,  I  should  like  to  ask,  if  there  be  any 
clergyman  of  the  Church  of  England,  or  any  minister  of  a  Non- 
conformist body  here,  and  if  my  words  should  go  from  this 
platform  to  a  wider  circle  than  can  now  hear  me,  I  would  ask 
all  these  ministers  of  these  churches — on  this  point  there  can 
be  no  difference  between  church  and  chapel,  for  all  these  teach- 
ers and  preachers  profess  to  be  the  servants  of  the  Most  High 
God,  and  teachers  of  the  doctrines  of  His  Divine  Son — and 
being  such,  may  I  not  appeal  to  them  and  say :  What  have  you 
40,000  or  50,000  men,  with  such  vast  influences,  what  have  you 
been  doing  with  this  great  question  during  all  the  years  that 
you  have  ministered  and  called  yourselves  ministers  of  the 
Prince  of  Peace?  And  I  would  not  confine  my  appeal  to  them 
only,  but  to  the  devout  men  of  every  church  and  every  chapel 
who  surround  the  minister  and  uphold  his  hand,  who  did  in 
many  things  his  bidding,  and  who  join  him  heartily  and  con- 
scientiously in  his  work.  I  say:  What  are  they  doing?  Why 
is  it  that  there  has  never  been  a  combination  of  all  religious 
and  Christian  teachers  of  the  country  with  the  view  of  teaching 
the  people  what  is  true,  what  is  Christian,  upon  this  subject  ?  I 
believe  it  has  been  within  the  power  of  the  churches  to  do  far 
more  than  statesmen  can  do  in  matters  of  this  kind.  I  believe 
they  might  so  bring  this  question  home  to  the  hearts  and  con- 
sciences of  the  Christian  and  good  men  of  their  congrega- 
tions that  a  great  combination  of  public  opinion  might  be 
created  which  would  wholly  change  the  aspect  of  this  question 
in  this  country  and  before  the  world,  and  would  bring  to  the 
minds  of  statesmen  that  they  are  not  the  rulers  of  colonists 
of  Greece,  or  of  the  marauding  hordes  of  ancient  Rome,  but 
that  they  are,  or  ought  to  be,  the  Christian  rulers  of  a  Christian 
people. 


346  BRIGHT 

And  now  I  have  said  all  that  is  necessary  on  this  occasion. 
I  ought  to  say  I  only  engaged  with  my  friends  who  called  upon 
me  to  make  a  few  observations  which  might  arise  out  of  the  lec- 
ture which  we  expected  would  be  delivered,  and  which  to-night 
we  have  heard  with  so  much  pleasure.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed, 
of  course,  that  a  small  town,  just  as  it  were  new-born  into  the 
family  of  towns  like  Llandudno,  should  have  a  powerful 
influence  upon  public  opinion,  and  upon  government.  You 
represent  a  small  town  with  a  small  population  ;  you  cannot  con- 
trol or  terrify  a  feeble,  or  unwise,  or  unprincipled  administra- 
tion, but  you  can  add  to  the  great  volume  of  sound  opinion 
throughout  the  country,  whose  mandate  such  administration 
dare  not  in  the  long  run  disobey. 

In  Wales  there  is  much  that  Welshmen  have  to  be  proud  of. 
There  is  no  part  of  the  country,  I  believe,  where,  for  the  popula- 
tion, there  are  so  few  offences  committed  against  the  law  ;  there 
is  no  part  of  the  country  in  which  the  people  by  voluntary  ef- 
fort have  done  so  much  for  education  and  for  the  teaching  of 
the  Christian  religion  ;  there  is  no  part  of  the  country  to  which 
Englishmen  can  come  with  so  much  pleasure  to  behold  all  that 
is  beautiful  in  nature,  and  all  that  the  inhabitants  of  this  district 
have  so  much  reason  to  love  and  to  be  proud  of.  May  I  ask 
you  then  to  do  what  you  can — you  are  not  asked  to  do  more, 
but  whoever  you  may  come  in  contact  with,  whenever  you  may 
have  the  opportunity  of  discussing  this  great  question,  to  go 
to  the  kernel  of  it,  stripped  of  all  the  husk  by  which  states- 
men and  the  press  succeed  so  often  in  misleading  the  people ; 
go  to  the  kernel  of  the  matter,  and  ask  yourself  the  question : 
Can  it  be  your  duty  to  send  out  your  sons  and  brothers  three 
thousand  miles  to  the  slaughter — it  may  be  of  the  Russians  or 
any  other  people — can  it  be  your  duty  to  do  this?  Ask  your 
consciences  within  the  sight  of  Heaven  if  it  can  be  your  duty ; 
and  if  you  cannot  find  an  answer  in  the  affirmative,  then,  I  say, 
have  nothing  to  do  with  the  accursed  system,  and  wherever 
your  influence  extends,  let  it  be  honestly  and  earnestly  in  favor 
of  Christianity  and  peace. 


FUNERAL    ORATION    ON    LORD 
PALMERSTON 


BY 

DEAN    STANLEY 

(Arthur  Penrhyn  Stanley) 


ARTHUR  PENRHYN  STANLEY,  DEAN  STANLEY 

1815— 1881 

Arthur  Penrhyn  Stanley,  the  second  son  of  Edward  Stanley,  Bishop 
of  Norwich,  was  born  at  Alderley  while  his  father  was  rector  of  that 
parish,  on  December  13,  1815.  He  entered  Rugby  in  January,  1829, 
where  Dr.  Arnold  had  been  installed  as  head-master  the  previous  sum- 
mer. During  the  three  years  or  more  spent  under  the  care  of  that 
eminent  man  Stanley's  respect  for  his  teacher  "  ripened  into  an  affec- 
tion that  rose  to  veneration."  Arnold's  influence  was  the  "  load-star  " 
of  his  life,  as  he  expressed  himself,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  it 
guided  him  in  his  conduct  through  the  turmoil  and  animosity  of  re- 
ligious factions  which  he  soon  was  to  encounter  at  Oxford  during  a 
critical  period  of  his  life. 

Stanley  went  to  Balliol  College  as  an  exhibitioner  from  Rugby  and 
became  distinguished  for  his  scholarship  throughout  his  college  career. 
In  1838  he  was  chosen  a  fellow  of  University  College,  and  in  December 
of  the  following  year  he  was  ordained  by  the  Bishop  of  Oxford. 

In  1840  Stanley  set  out  for  a  tour  of  Italy,  Switzerland,  and  Greece, 
and  scarcely  a  year  passed  after  that  without  his  making  some  extensive 
trip  to  the  Continent,  Asia,  America,  or  other  parts  of  the  world.  The 
appointment  of  Arnold  to  the  chair  of  modern  history  at  Oxford  in 
1841  gave  extreme  satisfaction  to  Stanley.  He  had  hoped  his  influence 
would  restore  a  healthier  tone  to  university  life,  and  his  disappointment 
was  therefore  great  when  Arnold  died,  June  12,  1842.  The  life  of  Arnold 
by  Dean  Stanley,  which  was  published  two  years  later,  secured  for  him 
a  recognized  position  in  the  world  of  letters.  During  the  religious  con- 
troversies agitating  Oxford  at  this  time,  Stanley  did  not  sympathize 
with  the  views  of  either  faction.  As  a  tutor  his  efforts  met  with  the 
greatest  success,  so  much  that  his  college  rose  to  a  high  rank  in  the 
university.  In  his  sermons  "  On  the  Apostolic  Age,"  delivered  during 
the  years  1846  and  1847,  he  expounded  views  divergent  from  those  of 
both  parties  and  defended  the  cause  of  free  inquiry  as  applied  to  Biblical 
study.  In  July,  1851,  after  the  death  of  his  father,  Stanley  was  ap- 
pointed a  canon  of  Canterbury  and  left  Oxford.  The  next  five  years 
were  a  period  of  great  literary  activity,  interrupted  only  by  tours  abroad. 

A  larger  sphere  of  activity  presented  itself  to  Stanley  when,  in  De- 
cember, 1856,  he  was  appointed  professor  of  ecclesiastical  history  at 
Oxford.  Here,  through  his  lectures  and  through  the  pulpit,  he  exer- 
cised a  remarkable  influence  on  the  young  men  with  whom  he  came  in 
contact,  while  his  passion  for  justice  plunged  him  into  many  contro- 
versies. He  was  invited  to  accompany  the  Prince  of  Wales  on  a  tour 
in  the  East,  and  on  his  return  married  Lady  Augusta  Bruce,  on  De- 
cember 23,  1863.  In  January  of  the  following  year  he  was  installed  as 
Dean  of  the  Abbey  in  succession  to  Trench,  who  became  Archbishop 
of  Dublin.  In  his  new  capacity  Dean  Stanley  soon  became  prominent. 
In  literature,  in  the  official  duties  of  his  office,  and  in  the  pulpit  his 
labors  were  fruitful  of  the  best  and  most  far-reaching  results.  He 
was  a  firm  advocate  and  upholder  of  the  established  law  governing  the 
relations  of  the  Church  and  State  and  was  opposed  to  every  attempt 
to  loosen  the  ties  between  them. 

Stanley's  was  a  mind  marked  by  the  breadth  of  its  charity  and  his 
attitude  of  toleration  towards  those  of  other  religious  beliefs.  He  in- 
sisted that  the  essence  and  vitality  of  Christianity  lay  not  in  dogmas, 
forms,  and  institutions,  but  in  the  true  Christian  character.  Stanley 
died  July  18,  1881.  His  fine  oration  on  Lord  Palmerston  is  one  of 
numerous  funeral  orations  he  delivered  during  his  career. 

348 


FUNERAL  ORATION   ON   LORD   PALMERSTON 

Delivered  October  29,  1865,  on  the  Sunday  following  Lord  Palmcr- 
ston's  burial  in  Westminster  Abbey 

£>  EE  that  ye  zvalk  circumspectly  .  .  .  redeeming  the 
il  time  .  .  .  understanding  what  the  will  of  the  Lord 
is.1  So  spoke  the  Apostle  in  the  epistle  of  this  day.  He 
tells  his  readers  to  "  walk  circumspectly  " — that  is,  with  a  keen, 
critical  observance  of  all  they  see ;  to  "  redeem  the  time  " — 
that  is,  to  make  the  most  of  every  opportunity  that  is  thrown  in 
their  way,  not  to  let  any  part  of  it  escape  them  ;  to  make  every 
effort  of  mind  and  heart  to  "  understand  what  the  will  of  the 
Lord  is  " — that  is,  to  understand  what  is  the  special  intention  of 
God,  wrapped  up  in  the  different  dispensations  of  joy  and  sor- 
row which  come  across  them.  It  is  this  very  thing  which  we 
are  called  upon  to  do  this  day — to  look  hard  into  the  essential 
lessons  of  the  great  solemnity  at  which,  on  Friday  last,  so  many 
of  us  assisted  ;  to  redeem,  and  make  the  most  of,  for  our  in- 
struction, the  opportunity  of  serious  thought,  thus  afforded  to 
us ;  to  understand,  so  far  as  we  can,  what  is  the  will  of  the 
Lord  concerning  us,  in  the  national  homage  then  paid  to  the 
illustrious  dead. 

It  is  one  of  the  most  instructive  parts  of  solemnities  of  this 
kind  that  each  has  its  own  peculiar  lesson  to  convey.  Of  all 
the  great  men  who  are  laid  within  these  walls,  every  single  one, 
probably,  is  laid  there  for  a  separate  and  distinct  reason,  which 
could  not  apply  to  anyone  else.  That  grand  truth  which  was 
read  in  our  ears  in  the  funeral  lesson,  from  the  apostolic  epistle, 
has  its  special  force  on  every  such  occasion  here — "  There  is 
one  glory  of  the  sun,  and  another  glory  of  the  moon,  and  an- 
other glory  of  the  stars ;  for  one  star  differeth  from  another 
star  in  glory." 

1  Ephesians,  v.  15,  16,  17. 
349 


35°  DEAN   STANLEY 

In  the  chambers  of  the  dead,  in  the  temple  of  fame,  no  less 
than  in  the  house  of  our  heavenly  Father,  there  are  indeed 
"  many  mansions,"  many  stages,  many  degrees.  Each  human 
soul  that  is  gifted  above  its  fellows,  leaves,  as  it  passes  out  of 
the  world,  a  light  of  its  own,  that  no  other  soul,  whether  more 
or  less  greatly  gifted,  could  give  equally.  As  each  lofty  peak 
in  some  mountain  is  illuminated  with  a  different  hue  of  its 
own,  by  the  setting  sun,  so,  also,  each  of  the  higher  summits 
of  human  society  is  lit  up  by  the  sunset  of  life  with  a  different 
color,  derived,  it  may  be,  from  the  materials  of  which  it  is  com- 
posed, or  from  the  relative  position  which  it  occupies,  but  each, 
to  those  who  can  discern  it  rightly,  conveying  a  new  and  sepa- 
rate lesson  of  truth,  of  duty,  of  wisdom,  and  of  hope. 

What,  then,  are  the  special  lessons  which  we  may  learn  from 
the  character  of  the  remarkable  man  who  has  been  taken  away, 
and  from  the  tribute  paid  to  his  memory?  I  leave  altogether 
the  questions  of  political  and  religious  parties,  which  have  no 
place  here,  and  confine  myself  entirely  to  those  direct,  practical 
lessons  which  may  be  applied  to  all,  of  whatever  opinions, 
equally.  I  leave,  also,  altogether,  those  questions  of  the  un- 
seen world  which  are  known  to  God  only.  I  leave  them,  as 
our  Church  leaves  them,  to  that  holy  and  merciful  Saviour, 
whose  mighty  working  is  able  to  subdue  all  things  to  Himself, 
who  sees  as  man  sees  not,  but  who,  we  cannot  doubt,  com- 
mends to  our  admiration  whatsoever  there  is  good  and  true  in 
every  one  of  His  servants,  that  from  each  we  may  understand 
the  more  fully  what  the  will  of  the  Lord  is,  what  the  whole 
counsel  of  God  is  towards  us. 

First,  then,  there  was  this  singular  peculiarity,  that  the  gifts 
by  which  the  eminence  of  the  departed  statesman  was  achieved 
were  such  as  are  far  more  within  the  reach  of  all  of  us  than  is 
usually  the  case  with  those  who  occupy  a  position  like  his.  It 
has  been  said  of  Judas  Maccabaeus,  that  of  all  military  chiefs, 
he  was  the  one  who  accomplished  the  greatest  victories  with  the 
smallest  amount  of  external  resources.  It  may  be  said  of  our 
late  chief,  that  of  all  political  leaders,  he  accomplished  the 
greatest  success  by  the  most  homely  and  the  most  ordinary 
means.  It  is  this  which  makes  his  life,  in  many  respects,  an  ex- 
ample and  an  encouragement  to  all.  The  persevering  devotion 
of  his  days  and  nights  to  the  public  service,  the  toil  and  en- 


FUNERAL   ORATION   ON   LORD   PALMERSTON        35 x 

durance  of  more  than  half  a  century  in  the  various  high  sta- 
tions in  which  he  was  employed — these  are  qualities  which 
might  be  imitated  by  every  single  person,  from  the  highest  to 
the  lowest  amongst  you.  You,  whoever  you  may  be,  who  are 
disposed,  as  so  many  young  man  are,  to  give  yourselves  up  to 
ease  and  self-indulgence,  who  think  everything  that  costs  you 
any  trouble  a  reason  for  putting  work  aside,  remember  that  not 
by  such  faint-hearted,  idle  carelessness  can  God  or  man  be 
served,  or  the  end  of  any  human  soul  be  attained,  in  this  life 
or  the  next.  You,  whoever  you  be,  who  are  working  on  zeal- 
ously, humbly,  honestly,  in  your  different  stations,  work  on  the 
more  zealously  and  the  more  faithfully,  from  this  day  forward, 
with  the  feeling  that,  in  the  honors  paid  to  me  who  was,  in 
these  respects,  but  a  fellow-laborer  with  you,  the  nation,  as 
in  the  sight  of  God,  has  set  its  seal  on  the  value  of  work,  on 
the  nobleness  of  toil,  on  the  grandeur  of  long,  laborious  davs, 
on  the  splendor  of  plodding,  persevering  diligence. 

Again,  he  won  his  way,  as  we  have  been  told  a  hundred  times, 
not  so  much  by  eloquence,  or  genius,  or  far-sighted  wisdom,  as 
by  the  lesser  graces  of  cheerfulness,  good  humor,  gayety,  and 
kindness  of  heart,  tact,  and  readiness — lesser  graces,  doubtless, 
graces  of  which  some  of  the  highest  characters  have  been  al- 
most destitute,  yet  graces  which  are  assuredly  not  less  the  gifts 
of  God — graces  which,  even  in  the  house  of  God,  we  do  well  to 
reverence  and  admire.  Those  who  may  think  it  a  matter  of 
little  moment  to  take  offence  at  the  slightest  affront ;  those  who 
by  their  presence  throw  a  dark  chill  over  whatever  society  they 
take  part  in ;  those  who  make  the  lives  of  those  around  them 
miserable,  by  recklessly  trampling  on  their  tenderest  feelings, 
and  wounding  them  in  their  weakest  point ;  those  who  poison 
discussion  and  embitter  controversy  by  pushing  particular  views 
to  their  extremest  consequences,  by  widening  differences  be- 
tween man  and  man ;  those  who  think  it  a  duty  to  make  the 
worst  of  everyone  from  whom  they  dissent,  and  to  maintain 
a  never-ending  protest  against  those  who  have  ever  done  them 
a  wrong,  or  from  whom  they  have  ever  differed — such  as  these 
may  have  higher  pretensions  and,  it  may  be,  higher  claims  on 
our  respect ;  yet  if  they  would  understand  what  the  will  of  the 
Lord  is,  a  silent  rebuke  will  rise  to  them  from  yonder  grave, 
such  as  God  designs  for  their  special  benefit.     The  statesman 


35* 


DEAN    STANLEY 


who  had  always  a  soft  word  ready  to  turn  away  wrath ;  who,  if 
at  times  he  attacked  or  was  attacked  justly,  yet  never  bore 
lasting  malice  towards  his  enemies ;  who  was  able  to  see,  even 
in  those  who  opposed  him,  the  true  worth  and  value  of  their 
essential  characters — from  him,  and  from  the  honor  paid  to 
him,  many  an  eager  partisan,  many  a  hard  polemic,  many  an 
austere  moralist,  may  learn  a  lesson  that  nothing  else  could 
teach  them.  How  many,  by  praising  him,  have  condemned 
themselves !  How  many,  by  making  much  of  him,  have  made 
much  of  the  very  graces  which,  in  all  other  times  and  persons, 
they  have  been  unwilling  even  to  acknowledge ! 

Yet  again,  the  long  life  which  has  just  closed  was  an  endur- 
ing witness  to  the  greatness  of  that  gift  which  even  heathens 
recognized,  of  hope,  unfailing,  elastic  hope.  "  Never  despair!  " 
so  the  vicissitudes  of  the  octogenarian  chief  seemed  to  say  to 
us.  From  a  youth  of  comparative  obscurity,  from  a  middle- 
age  of  constant  struggle  with  opposition,  through  a  shifting 
career  of  many  changes  and  many  falls,  was  attained  at  last  that 
serene  and  bright  old  age,  that  calm  and  honored  death,  which, 
in  its  measure,  is  within  the  reach  of  all  of  us,  if  God  should  so 
prolong  our  years,  and  if  we  should  not  despair  of  ourselves. 
Never  be  dispirited  ;  never  say,  "  It  is  too  late  " ;  never  think 
that  your  day  is  past ;  never  lose  heart  under  opposition  ;  hold 
on  to  the  end,  and  you  may  at  last  be  victorious  and  successful, 
even  as  he  was — it  may  be  in  still  nobler  causes,  and  with  still 
more  lasting  results.  Nor  let  us  shut  out  the  encouragement 
which  this  is  designed  to  give  us,  by  saying  that  it  was,  after 
all,  only  the  natural  result  of  a  buoyant  and  vigorous  consti- 
tution. To  a  great  degree,  no  doubt,  it  was  so ;  yet  it  also 
rested  in  large  measure  on  the  deeper  ground  of  a  quiet  con- 
viction that  the  fitting  course  for  a  man  was  to  do  what  is 
good  for  the  moment,  without  vainly  forecasting  the  future — 
to  do  the  present  duty,  and  to  leave  the  results  to  God.  "  I  do 
ndt  understand,"  so  he  once  said  to  one  who  knew  him  well — 
"  I  do  not  understand  what  is  meant  by  the  anxiety  of  respon- 
sibility. I  take  every  pains  to  do  what  is  for  the  best,  and 
having  done  that,  I  am  perfectly  at  ease,  and  leave  the  conse- 
quences altogether  alone."  That  strain,  indeed,  is  of  a  higher 
mood :  it  is  the  strain  of  the  inspired  wisdom  of  ancient  days 
— "  Whatsoever  thy  hand  findeth  to  do,  do  it  with  all  thy 


FUNERAL   ORATION   ON    LORD   TALMERSTON        353 

might."  It  is  the  strain,  also,  may  we  not  say,  of  true  Chris- 
tain  humility  and  courage,  which  may  well  calm  many  a  care, 
and  nourish  many  a  hope,  and  strengthen  many  a  faith,  beside, 
and  beyond,  and  above  the  care,  and  the  hope,  and  the  faith  of  a 
mere  political  career. 

And  this  leads  me  to  another  and  a  wider  view  of  the  sub- 
ject, in  which,  nevertheless,  all,  even  the  humblest  of  us,  may 
take  an  interest.  If  any  were  asked  what  was  the  thought  or 
belief  which,  from  first  to  last,  most  distinctly  guided  his 
policy  and  sustained  his  spirit,  they  would  say  his  unfailing 
trust  in,  and  concern  for,  the  greatness  of  England.  He  was 
an  Englishman  even  to  excess.  It  was  England,  rather  than 
any  special  party  in  England — it  was  the  honor  and  interests  of 
England,  rather  than  even  the  constitution,  or  the  State,  or  the 
Church  of  England,  that  fired  his  imagination,  and  stimulated 
his  efforts,  and  secured  his  fame.  For  this  it  was  that  his  name 
was  known  throughout  the  world,  in  the  most  secluded  villages 
of  Calabria,  on  the  wild  shores  of  the  Caspian,  in  the  monastic 
solitudes  of  Thibet.  To  England,  and  to  no  lesser  interest,  the 
vast  length  of  that  laborious  life,  with  whatsoever  shortcom- 
ings, was  in  all  simplicity  and  faithfulness  devoted.  My  breth- 
ren, I  know  well  that  when  I  thus  speak  there  are  considerations 
far  greater  than  these  by  which  the  human  soul  must  be  stayed 
in  life  and  death,  by  which  the  world  and  Church  are  guided  on 
their  appointed  course ;  but  on  this  occasion  this  is  the  thought 
which  presses  most  forcibly  upon  us ;  this  is  the  framework 
in  which  those  higher  considerations  present  themselves ;  this 
is  the  special  opportunity  which  we  are  to  redeem,  and  out  of 
which  the  will  of  the  Lord  will  make  itself  clear.  In  this  great 
historic  building,  on  the  disappearance  from  amongst  us  of  one 
of  our  chief  historic  names  in  the  sight  of  all  that  was  highest 
and  noblest  in  our  national  life  gathered  round  that  open  vault, 
it  is  the  very  mission  of  the  preacher  to  ask  you  to  reflect  on 
what  should  be  our  Christian  duty  towards  that  kingly  com- 
monwealth of  which  we,  no  less  than  he,  are  members — of 
which  we,  no  less  than  he,  are  proud — for  which  we,  no  less 
than  he,  are  bound  in  the  sight  of  God  to  lay  down  our  lives 
and  to  spend  our  latest  breath. 

"  England,  we  love  thee  better  than  we  know  !  " 
Vol.  II. — 23 


354  DEAN    STANLEY 

It  was  surely  an  allowable  feeling  which  caused  one  whose 
voice  has  often  been  heard  from  this  place  thus  to  describe  the 
thrill  of  joy  and  exultation  with  which,  in  a  foreign  land,  he — 

"...  heard  again  thy  martial  music  blow, 
And  saw  thy  gallant  children  to  and  fro 
Pace,  keeping  ward  at  one  of  those  huge  gates 
Which,  like  twin  giants,  watch  the  Herculean  straits."2 

Some  such  feeling  of  pride  as  this  it  was  which  was  roused  by 
the  awe  awakened  in  many  a  distant  and  many  a  suffering  na- 
tion at  the  sound  of  the  powerful  name  now  to  be  inscribed 
within  these  walls. 

But  it  is  with  loftier  thoughts  than  pride  or  even  thankful- 
ness that  our  spirits  mount  upwards  when  we  reflect  on  what 
is  really  involved  in  that  idea  which  so  inspired  the  long  career 
which  has  just  closed — England,  and  a  citizen  of  England. 
Think  of  our  marvellous  history,  slowly  evolved  out  of  our 
marvellous  situation.  Think  of  that  fusion  of  hostile  races  and 
hostile  institutions  within  the  same  narrow  limits.  Think  of 
the  long,  bright,  continuous  line  of  our  literature  such  as  is  un- 
known in  any  other  country.  Think  of  our  refuge  for  freedom 
and  for  justice.  Think  of  our  temperate  monarchy  and  con- 
stitution, so  fearfully  and  wonderfully  wrought  out  through 
the  toil  and  conflict  of  so  many  centuries.  Think  of  our  pure 
domestic  homes.  Think  of  the  English  prayers  and  the  English 
Bible  woven  into  our  inmost  and  earliest  recollections.  Think 
of  the  liberty  of  conscience  and  the  liberty  of  speech  which  give 
to  conscience  and  to  speech  a  double,  treble  weight  and  value. 
Think  of  the  sober  religious  faith  which  shows  itself  amongst 
us  in  so  many  diverse  forms,  each  supplying  what  the  other 
wants.  These  are  some  of  the  elements  which  go  to  make  up 
the  whole  idea  that  is  conjured  up  by  the  sacred  name  of  Eng- 
land for  which  our  statesman  lived  and  died. 

And  then  remember  that  what  England  is,  or  will  be,  depends 
in  great  measure  on  her  own  individual  sons  and  daughters. 
Nations  are  the  schools  in  which  individual  souls  are  trained. 
The  virtues  and  the  sins  of  a  nation  are  the  virtues  and  the 
sins  of  each  one  of  its  citizens,  on  a  larger  scale  and  written 
in  gigantic  letters.    To  be  a  citizen  of  England,  according  to 

'"Gibraltar":  a  sonnet,  by  R.  C.  Trench,  Archbishop  of  Dublin. 


FUNERAL   ORATION   ON    LORD   PALMERSTON       355 

our  lost  chief,  was  the  greatest  boast,  the  greatest  claim  on 
protection  and  influence,  that  a  man  could  show  in  any  part  of 
the  world.  To  be  a  citizen  of  England  in  the  fullest  sense, 
worthy  of  all  that  England  has  been  and  might  be,  worthy  of 
our  noble  birthright,  worthy  of  our  boundless  opportunities,  this 
is,  indeed,  a  thought  which  should  rouse  every  one  of  us,  not 
in  presumptuous  confidence,  but  in  all  Christian  humility,  to  re- 
deem the  time  that  is  still  before  us,  and  to  labor  to  understand 
what  the  will  of  the  Lord  is  for  ourselves  and  for  our  children. 
When,  two  days  ago,  we  stood  amidst  the  deepening  gloom 
round  the  grave  of  the  aged  statesman,  it  was  impossible  not  to 
feel  that  we  were  witnessing  not  only  the  flight  of  an  individual 
spirit  into  the  unseen  world,  but  the  close  of  one  generation, 
one  stage  of  our  history,  and  the  beginning  of  another.  We 
had  climbed  to  the  height  of  one  of  those  ridges  which  part 
the  past  from  the  future.  We  were  on  the  water-shed  of  the 
dividing  streams.  We  saw  the  last  thread  of  the  waters  which 
belonged  to  the  earlier  epoch  amongst  the  remains  of  which 
the  ashes  of  the  dead  were  laid ;  we  were  on  the  turning-point 
whence,  henceforward,  the  springs  of  political  and  national  life 
will  flow  in  another  direction,  taking  their  rise  from  another 
range,  destined  to  commingle  with  other  seas,  and  to  fertilize 
other  climes.  Even  the  oldest  of  living  statesmen,  compared 
with  him  who  has  gone,  belongs  to  a  newer  age,  and  has  to  face 
a  newer  world.  On  this  eminence,  so  to  speak,  we  stand  to-day. 
To  this  new  start  in  our  pilgrimage  we  have  each  one  of  us 
to  look  forward.  It  is  not  in  England  as  in  other  countries, 
where  the  national  will  is  but  little  felt  compared  with  the  will 
of  a  single  ruler.  Here,  for  good  or  for  evil,  the  mind,  the 
wishes,  the  character  of  the  people  are  almost  everything. 
That  public  opinion,  of  which  we  hear  so  much,  which  was 
believed  to  be  the  guiding  star  of  the  sagacious  mind  which  has 
just  gone  from  us — that  public  opinion  is  moulded  by  everyone 
who  has  a  will,  or  heart,  or  head,  or  conscience  of  his  own, 
throughout  this  vast  empire.  On  you,  on  me,  on  old  and  young, 
on  rich  and  poor,  it  more  or  less  depends,  whether  that  public 
opinion  be  elevating  or  depressing,  just  or  unjust,  pure  or 
impure,  Christian  or  un-Christian.  If  it  be  true,  as  some  think, 
that  to  follow  and  not  to  lead  public  opinion  must  henceforth 
be  the  course  of  our  statesmen,  then  our  responsibility  and  the 


356  DEAN   STANLEY 

responsibility  of  the  nation  is  deepened  further  still.  The  very 
creation  of  the  character  of  our  public  men  must  then  devolve 
in  a  manner  upon  those  below  them  and  around  them.  They 
may  inspire  us,  but  we  must  also  inspire  them.  We  must 
strive  with  all  our  strength  to  be  that  in  our  stations  which 
we  would  wish  them  to  be  in  theirs.  We  must  act  as  those 
act  in  a  beleaguered  city,  where  every  sentinel  knows  that  on 
his  single  courage  and  fidelity  may  depend  the  fate  of  all.  A 
single  resolute  mind,  loving  the  truth,  and  the  truth  only,  has 
ere  now  brought  the  whole  mind  of  a  nation  round  to  himself. 
A  single  pure  spirit  has,  by  its  own  pure  and  holy  aspirations, 
breathed  a  new  spirit  into  the  corrupt  mass  of  a  whole  national 
literature.  A  single  voice  raised  constantly  in  behalf  of  hon- 
esty, and  justice,  and  mercy,  and  freedom,  has  rendered  forever 
impossible  practises  which  were  once  universal. 

"  Brethren,"  so  says  the  Apostle  in  the  chapter  which  you 
have  just  heard  in  this  evening's  service,  "  Brethren,  forget- 
ting those  things  which  are  behind,  and  reaching  forth  unto 
those  things  which  are  before,  I  press  towards  the  mark,  for 
the  prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus."  So  let  me 
call  upon  you,  in  the  presence  of  that  grave  which  has  been  so 
lately  closed ;  in  the  prospect  of  the  changes  and  trials,  what- 
soever they  may  be,  which  are  now  before  us ;  in  the  midst  of 
those  mighty  memories  by  which  we  are  surrounded ;  in  the 
face  of  that  mighty  future  to  which  we  are  all  advancing,  for- 
get those  things  which  are  behind.  Forget  in  him  who  is  gone 
all  that  was  of  the  earth  and  earthy;  reach  forward  in  his 
character  to  all  that  is  immortal — the  kindness,  the  persever- 
ance, the  freedom  from  party  spirit,  the  hope,  the  self-devo- 
tion, which  can  never  pass  away,  and  which  are  still  before  each 
one  of  us.  Forget,  too,  in  the  past  and  the  present  generation, 
all  that  is  behind,  all  that  is  behind  the  best  spirit  of  our 
age,  all  that  is  behind  the  true  spirit  of  the  gospel,  all  that 
is  behind  the  requirements  of  the  most  enlightened  and  the 
most  Christian  conscience;  and  reach  forward,  one  and  all, 
towards  those  great  things  which  we  may  trust  are  still  be- 
fore us — the  great  problems  which  our  age,  if  any,  may  solve, 
the  great  tasks  which  our  nation  alone  can  accomplish,  the 
great  doctrines  of  our  common  faith,  which  we  may  have  the 
opportunity  of  grasping  with  a  firmer  hold  than  ever  before, 


FUNERAL   ORATION   ON    LORD   PALMERSTON       357 

the  great  reconciliation  of  things  old  with  things  new,  of  things 
common  with  things  sacred,  of  class  with  class,  of  man  with 
man,  of  nation  with  nation,  of  church  with  church,  of  all  with 
God.  This  is  the  high  calling  of  England,  this  is  the  high  call- 
ing of  an  English  statesman,  this  is  the  high  calling  of  every 
English  citizen,  this  is  the  high  calling  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, this  is  the  will  of  the  Lord  concerning  us ;  this,  and  noth- 
ing less  than  this,  is  "  the  prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God  in 
Christ  Jesus  "  our  Lord. 


ONE-MAN    POWER 

BY 

LORD    SALISBURY 

(Robert  Arthur  Talbot  Gascoyne  Cecil) 


ROBERT   ARTHUR   TALBOT   GASCOYNE   CECIL, 
LORD   SALISBURY 

Robert  Arthur  Talbot  Gascoyne  Cecil  was  born  at  Hatfield  in  1830. 
He  is  the  eldest  surviving  son  of  the  second  Marquis  of  Salisbury,  and 
succeeded  in  1868,  after  the  demise  of  his  elder  brother  in  1865,  to  the 
title  and  estates  of  the  family.  Lord  Salisbury  was  educated  at  Eton  and 
later  at  Christ  Church,  Oxford.  He  was  elected  fellow  of  All  Souls'  Col- 
lege, and  in  the  same  year  entered  Parliament  as  a  member  for  Stamford, 
which  seat  he  held  for  many  years  in  the  Conservative  interests.  In 
Lord  Derby's  third  administration  Lord  Salisbury  was  appointed  Sec- 
retary of  State  for  India,  but  soon  resigned  on  account  of  the  discordant 
views  on  the  Reform  Bill  prevalent  in  the  Cabinet.  When  Disraeli 
returned  to  power  in  1874  he  was  again  appointed  to  the  same  office. 
In  November,  1876,  Lord  Salisbury  was  sent  as  special  ambassador  to 
Constantinople  to  assist  in  adjusting  the  difficulties  respecting  the  Chris- 
tian subjects  of  the  Sultan,  but  the  proposals  of  the  great  powers  were 
rejected  by  the  Turkish  government. 

In  April  of  the  following  year  Salisbury  succeeded  the  Earl  of  Derby 
as  Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs,  and  soon  after  joined  the 
Earl  of  Beaconsfield  as  representative  of  Great  Britain  at  the  Congress 
of  Berlin.  The  successes  achieved  for  their  country  by  the  two  British 
statesmen,  incidental  to  the  new  division  of  the  Sultan's  dominions, 
mark,  perhaps,  the  period  of  the  greatest  triumphs  in  the  lives  of  both 
men. 

After  the  death  of  Lord  Beaconsfield  in  1881  Lord  Salisbury  became 
the  leader  of  the  Conservatives  in  the  Upper  House.  Since  then  his 
career  has  been  most  intimately  connected  with  the  successes  and  re- 
verses of  that  party.  Lord  Salisbury  was  a  vigorous  opponent  of  Glad- 
stone on  the  Irish  Home  Rule  bill,  and  on  the  defeat  of  Gladstone  in 
1886  Lord  Salisbury  became  once  more  Prime  Minister.  His  party  re- 
mained in  power  for  six  years,  Salisbury  assuming  the  portfolio  of 
foreign  affairs  in  1888,  when  a  reconstruction  of  the  ministry  was  made 
necessary  by  the  resignation  of  Lord  Randolph  Churchill  from  the 
Cabinet.  The  present  government,  in  which  Lord  Salisbury  holds  the 
portfolio  of  Foreign  Affairs  and  is  Prime  Minister,  was  returned  to 
power  in  1895. 

Lord  Salisbury  is  a  man  of  science  and  a  scholar  as  well  as  a  states- 
man. Though  not  endowed  with  any  great  oratorical  powers,  his  public 
speeches,  like  the  one  on  "  One-Man  Power,"  given  here,  are  master- 
pieces of  exposition  and  style. 


?6o 


ONE-MAN   POWER 

Delivered  at  Dumfries,  October  22,  1884 

IN  rising  to  thank  Lord  Galloway,  the  Conservative  Associa- 
tions, and  you,  for  the  kind  reception  which  has  been 
accorded  to  me,  I  cannot  in  the  first  instance  forbear 
from  noting  the  melancholy  fact  that  if  I  had  addressed  you 
here  from  this  platform  a  year  ago  it  is  probable  that  the  chair 
would  have  been  occupied  by  another  person.  I  cannot  wel- 
come my  noble  friend  the  Duke  of  Buccleuch  to  his  new  honors 
and  the  vast  position  of  influence  which  they  give  him  without 
recalling  the  memory  of  that  splendid  Scotchman  and  patriot 
who  has  passed  away.  He  passed  a  life  far  longer  in  that  posi- 
tion than  an  ordinary  life.  In  the  discharge,  in  the  sedulous 
and  unfailing  discharge,  of  the  highest  duties  of  a  subject  he 
never  permitted  the  privileges  and  enjoyment  which  his  posi- 
tion gave  him  to  induce  him  for  a  moment  to  forget  the  obli- 
gations under  which  he  lay  towards  his  fellow-subjects,  or  the 
duties  which  his  position  imposed  upon  him.  He  passed  a  life 
of  unflagging  exertion  in  the  discharge  of  social  duties  of  no 
common  importance,  and  he  leaves  behind  him  a  memory  of 
sagacity,  of  patriotism,  of  public  spirit,  of  equable  and  calm 
judgment,  which  no  Scotchman  within  our  experience  has  sur- 
passed or  equalled. 

Gentlemen,  I  approach  the  task  of  addressing  you  to-night 
with  the  somewhat  consoling  feeling  that  we  are  standing  on 
the  verge  of  the  close  of  this  autumn  campaign.  It  has  been 
one  of  considerable  exertion,  not  only  for  the  speakers,  but  for 
the  hearers,  and  my  impression  is  that  when  it  passes  into  his- 
tory those  who  have  passed  through  it  will  dismiss  it  with  the 
hope  that  the  like  of  it  may  never  occur  again.  But  from  a  po- 
litical point  of  view  I  cannot  say  that  it  has  left  upon  my  mind 
a  shade  of  regret  for  the  course  which  the  House  of  Lords 

36i 


362  LORD   SALISBURY 

and  the  Conservative  party  have  thought  it  their  duty  to  take. 
It  appears  to  me  that  it  has  left  the  Conservative  party  more 
united  than  ever  it  was  before,  and  it  has  given  to  the  country 
an  opportunity  of  discussing  questions  deeply  affecting  the 
constitutional  working  of  our  Government — an  opportunity  of 
hearing  both  sides  of  the  question,  and  of  forming  their  delib- 
erate judgment  thereupon.  From  all  I  see  and  all  I  hear  I  do 
not  believe  that  that  judgment  is  unfavorable  to  the  existing 
constitution  of  the  country.  Some  people  on  the  other  side  are 
constantly  telling  us  that  we  have  not  pursued  the  right  course 
for  the  benefit  of  the  Tory  party.  I  am  always  struck  with  the 
singular  perception  which  our  adversaries  have  of  that  which 
the  Tory  party  in  its  own  interests  ought  to  do,  and  they  have 
not  been  tired  of  impressing  upon  us  that  we  have  made  a 
great  mistake  in  not  attacking  them  in  their  own  way — that  we 
have  drawn  attention  to  matters  which  we  had  better  not  have 
noticed,  and  that  we  have  committed  the  great  impolicy  of 
bringing  in  the  first  place  the  question  of  the  House  of  Lords 
before  the  country ;  and,  in  the  second  place,  that  we  have 
distracted  the  minds  of  the  people  of  this  country  from  the 
other  blunders  of  the  Government.  Now,  I  accept  with  thank- 
fulness that  admission  on  the  part  of  our  opponents  that  there 
are  considerable  blunders  of  the  Government  to  notice,  but  I  do 
not  in  the  least  admit  the  error  which  they  impute  to  us,  because 
the  imputation  of  that  error  rests  upon  the  assumption  that  the 
people  of  this  country  must  be  treated  rather  like  lunatics,  and 
that  it  is  dangerous  to  mention  any  matter  in  their  hearing  lest 
it  should  set  up  a  perilous  and  destructive  line  of  thought.  I 
do  not  believe  in  the  policy  of  plastering  over  difficulties  and 
trying  to  avoid  dangers  by  reticence.  The  only  chance  we 
have  in  this  country  is  fair,  free,  open  discussion;  and  if  I  am 
told  that  we  have  brought  before  the  attention  of  the  country 
subjects  which  but  for  us  would  not  have  been  brought  before 
them  I  say  all  the  better.  The  sooner  that  they  discuss  them 
the  better  they  will  be  able  to  judge  upon  them.  The  only 
thing  that  we  have  to  fear  is  a  hasty,  uninformed  judgment, 
and  the  longer  they  are  able  to  discuss  them  the  more  thor- 
oughly these  questions  are  agitated  in  their  view,  with  the  more 
perfect  confidence  may  we  assure  ourselves  of  the  sound  judg- 
ment that  will  ultimately  be  arrived  at. 


ONE-MAN   POWER  363 

Now,  as  we  approach  the  close  of  this  campaign,  let  us  try 
to  impose  our  experience,  let  us  try  to  trace  what  are  the 
tendencies,  what  the  prospects  which  the  progress  and  char- 
acter of  this  agitation  have  disclosed  before  us.  I  think,  if 
you  will  examine  all  that  is  new  in  the  character  of  this  agita- 
tion, you  will  find  that  the  indications  point  in  one  particular 
direction.  You  will  find  that  there  is  a  tendency,  beyond  any- 
thing that  our  fathers  have  experienced  before,  to  give  the 
power  to  the  ministry  of  the  day,  and  especially  to  the  Prime 
Minister  who  is  at  their  head ;  and  in  all  the  arguments  that 
have  been  urged  and  the  new  doctrines  that  have  been  im- 
pressed upon  us  that  is  the  tendency,  that  is  the  object  to  which 
our  opponents  seem  to  direct  their  efforts,  and  in  my  judgment 
that  is  the  course  of  events  which  it  most  concerns  the  people 
of  this  country  to  prevent.  Now,  if  you  will  look  at  the  state 
of  this  controversy,  which  has  been  thrashed  out  before  you 
during  the  last  three  months,  you  will  see  that  we  stand  at  this 
point.  The  Government  have  summoned  an  early  session. 
They  want  to  pass,  so  they  tell  us,  the  franchise  bill  and  a  redis- 
tribution bill.  According  to  all  former  precedent,  according  to 
the  ordinary  practice  of  Parliament,  what  they  would  do  would 
be  to  introduce  those  two  bills  together,  and  to  pass  them 
through  as  quickly  as  they  can.  They  have  an  unusually  long 
session  in  which  to  do  it,  because  they  have  begun  six  weeks 
earlier  than  the  ordinary  session,  and  therefore  it  is  presumable 
that  even  within  the  time  they  have  before  next  August  they 
would  be  able,  if  they  try,  to  accomplish  this  object.  But 
they  are  not  limited  to  next  August.  There  is  nothing  which 
it  is  more  important  to  remember,  when  they  tell  you  they  have 
no  time  to  pass  these  bills,  that  the  amount  of  time  they  will 
take  is  absolutely  a  matter  of  their  own  discretion.  They  can 
continue  the  session ;  they  have  no  need  to  prorogue  Parlia- 
ment, for  they  can  continue  it  as  long  as  they  like  ;  and,  there- 
fore, if  they  do  not  get  time  enough  to  pass  these  two  bills, 
which  they  profess  their  desire  to  pass,  and  which  they  have 
called  us  at  this  early  period  for  passing,  it  must  be  entirely 
their  own  decision  or  their  own  fault.  Well,  you  may  ask  me, 
why  do  not  the  Government  take  advantage  of  this?  Why 
did  they  not  introduce  these  two  bills  at  once  and  pass  them 
together?     They  tell  us  they  cannot  pass  these  bills  unless  they 


364  LORD  SALISBURY 

can  put  the  Houses  of  Parliament  under  compulsion — I  am  not 
using  my  own  words,  that  was  precisely  the  word  used  by  Lord 
Hartington — unless  they  could  put  the  Houses  of  Parliament 
under  compulsion  they  say  that  they  will  not  be  able  to  pass 
these  two  bills.  I  need  not  tell  you  that  this  is  an  entirely  new 
pretension  in  our  constitutional  history.  Never  before  has  a 
minister  of  the  Crown  assumed  to  have  the  right  to  exercise 
compulsion  upon  the  free  decision  of  the  two  Houses  of  Par- 
liament. They  are  repeatedly  trying  to  impress  upon  you  that 
this  is  a  conflict  with  the  House  of  Lords,  but  this  idea  of  com- 
pulsion points  to  the  House  of  Commons,  because  it  would  be 
just  as  easy  to  agitate  against  the  House  of  Lords  upon  the 
question  of  redistribution  as  upon  the  question  of  franchise. 
Therefore,  it  is  the  House  of  Commons  which  they  aim  at 
when  they  say  that  they  must  be  armed  with  a  power  of  compul- 
sion which  they  do  not  now  possess — that  is  to  say,  they  must 
be  able  to  say  to  the  House  of  Commons,  "  Unless  you  pass  this 
bill  which  we  present  to  you,  this  redistribution  bill,  you  will 
have  to  submit  to  the  franchise  without  redistribution,  which 
we  know  you  will  regard  as  a  horrible  alternative."  Well,  I 
said  just  now  that  the  reticence  principle  rather  made  you 
think  they  were  treating  the  people  of  England  as  lunatics,  but 
this  idea  makes  me  think  they  are  treating  the  people  of  Eng- 
land as  if  they  were  babies  in  arms.  Those  who  have  domestic 
experience  may  know  that  the  way  of  making  a  baby  take 
medicine  is  to  pinch  its  nose  and  to  insert  a  drenching-spoon  into 
its  mouth,  and  in  that  way  the  baby  is  made  to  take  the  medicine 
to  which  it  would  otherwise  object.  That  is  precisely  the 
process  Her  Majesty's  Government  propose  to  apply  to  the 
House  of  Commons.  They  propose,  by  means  of  this  parlia- 
mentary drenching-spoon,  to  force  down  the  throats  of  the 
House  of  Commons  the  medicine  which  they  know  very  well  if 
the  House  of  Commons  had  the  opportunity  of  unbiassed  judg- 
ment it  would  decline  to  accept. 

I  think  we  have  in  some  of  the  revelations  that  have  recently 
been  made  an  explanation  why  the  ordinary  mode  of  taking 
medicine  is  to  be  abandoned,  and  why  the  drenching-spoon  is 
to  be  resorted  to.  I  dare  say  you  have  read  the  clear,  forcible, 
and  vigorous  exposition  of  the  defects  of  the  redistribution  bill 
which  appeared  in  the  "  Standard  "  from  the  mouth  of  Lord 


ONE-MAN    POWER  365 

Randolph  Churchill.  I  need  not  repeat  his  demonstration,  I 
should  only  spoil  it  by  doing  so  ;  but  it  seems  to  be  substantially 
just  and  fair.  There  is  one  feature  of  it  which  I  cannot  forbear 
to  notice.  About  ten  days  ago  Lord  Hartington,  speaking  at 
Rawtenstall,  spoke  to  us  with  pitying  contempt  of  our  unworthy 
desire  to  cast  up  how  many  we  should  gain  or  how  many  we 
should  lose  by  any  redistribution  bill.  Well,  it  seemed  to  me 
at  the  time  a  very  dignified  appeal,  and  I  was  much  struck  that 
a  day  or  two  afterwards  appeared  this  bill,  which  had  been  pre- 
pared by  a  committee  of  the  Cabinet.  From  that  it  appeared 
that  somewhat  strange  things  had  been  done  in  Lord  Harting- 
ton's  own  county.  A  certain  town  called  Accrington  has  60,000 
inhabitants,  and,  as  you  know,  according  to  strict  numeral  cal- 
culations 54,000  inhabitants  is  enough  to  qualify  for  a  member, 
but  the  town  of  Accrington  was  not  to  have  a  member.  And 
why?  Because  it  was  in  Lord  Hartington's  county,  and  be- 
cause the  urban  voters  in  the  town  of  Accrington,  who  vote  for 
Lord  Hartington,  would  be  made  county  voters  instead  of 
urban  voters  by  that  arrangement.  Well,  when  that  appeared 
I  thought  there  was  something  exquisitely  humorous  in  Lord 
Hartington's  deprecation  of  our  unworthy  conduct  in  casting 
up  the  amount  of  seats  we  should  gain  or  lose.  I  do  not  for  a 
moment  accuse  Lord  Hartington  of  being  conscious  of  what 
his  friends  are  doing,  but  no  doubt  the  moment  he  saw  that 
scheme  appear  in  the  "  Standard  "  he  took  a  cab  and  dashed 
down  to  the  office  and  insisted  that  Accrington  should  have  a 
member.  The  point  that  I  have  ventured  to  bring  before  you 
is  that  all  these  proceedings  go  in  the  direction  that  I  have  indi- 
cated to  you.  It  is  effected  by  that  tendency  to  give  excessive 
power  to  the  ministry  which  I  ventured  to  signalize  to  you  as 
the  great  danger  of  our  day.  The  ministry  recommend  for 
their  own  reasons  and  purposes  some  scheme  to  the  House  of 
Commons.  They  are  afraid  that  the  House  of  Commons  will 
not,  according  to  the  ordinary  practice,  pass  it,  and  they  re- 
quire, for  the  first  time  in  our  history,  powers  of  compulsion. 
They  require  to  be  able  to  put  the  House  of  Commons  under  a 
penalty  unless  it  will  pass  a  redistribution  scheme  which  suits 
their  purpose.  If  they  were  not  actuated  by  party  motives  it 
would  involve  the  most  intolerable  annoyance,  for  it  would  in- 
volve the  assumption  that  they  are  capable  of  dictating  to  the 


366  LORD   SALISBURY 

Houses  of  Parliament  that  which  the  Houses  of  Parliament 
ought  to  accept,  and  that  their  judgment  is  superior  to  any 
that  the  Houses  of  Parliament  can  exercise. 

Take  another  point.  Mr.  Chamberlain  has  been  good 
enough  to  say,  with  singular  reiteration,  that  this  is  a  contest 
between  the  House  of  Lords  and  the  people,  and  he  goes  into  a 
great  many  heroics  about  the  duty  of  some  people  to  resist  this 
intolerable  aristocratic  tyranny.  My  impression  is,  if  there  is 
any  aristocratic  tyranny,  a  very  small  portion  of  this  free  peo- 
ple would  know  how  to  get  rid  of  it  at  once ;  but  the  truth  is 
that  there  is  no  conflict  whatever  between  the  House  of  Peers 
and  the  people.  What  the  House  of  Lords  desire  to  know  is 
what  the  people  think.  They  desire  to  know  it  in  the  authorized 
and  regular  way.  They  wish  to  know  it  by  the  counting  of 
opinions  at  the  polls.  That  is  the  only  way  in  which  it  can  be 
really  ascertained.  I  have  no  doubt  that  Mr.  Chamberlain 
would  wish  us  to  believe  that  the  hired  ruffians  who  were  sent 
to  break  into  Aston  Hall  the  other  day  represented  the  people ; 
but  we  decline  to  accept  that  species  of  indication  of  popular 
opinion.  As  for  the  demonstrations,  I  can  say  two  things 
of  them.  In  the  first  place,  one  side  or  the  other,  I  do  not 
believe  they  have  affected  two  per  cent,  of  the  population  ;  and, 
in  the  second  place,  as  far  as  any  fair  return  of  them  will  give  in- 
dication, it  seems  to  me  that  opinion  is  as  much  in  the  Con- 
servative as  in  the  Radical  direction.  But  if  they  dispute  our 
view  the  simple  resource — a  resource  of  which  they  are  marvel- 
lously afraid — is  to  consult  the  people.  They  tell  us  they  are 
delighted  with  this  agitation,  and  that  the  whole  public  opinion 
is  on  their  side.  My  impression  is  that  if  they  were  so  delight- 
ed they  would  not  be  so  mortally  afraid  of  the  possibility  of  an 
appeal  to  it.  You  know,  those  who  can  remember  elections 
as  they  were  some  ten  or  eleven  years  ago,  that  the  form  was 
that  first  a  show  of  hands  was  taken,  and  if  anybody  objected  to 
the  show  of  hands  and  demanded  a  poll,  then  a  poll  was  taken  ; 
but  I  never  heard  anybody  say  that  because  you  objected  to  a 
show  of  hands,  and  demanded  a  poll,  therefore  you  were  repu- 
diating the  authority  of  the  constituency.  The  House  of  Lords 
is  in  that  position.  It  does  not  think  that  the  show  of  hands 
is  any  clear  indication  that  the  people  have  decided  against 
the  course  which  they  have  pursued,  and  they  demand  ajjoll ; 


ONE-MAN   POWER  367 

and  if  a  poll  is  not  granted  to  them  now  they  have  no  wish, 
according  to  the  common  phrase,  to  force  a  dissolution.  A  dis- 
solution will  come  soon  enough.  According  to  the  constitu- 
tional doctrine  laid  down  by  Mr.  Gladstone  himself  there  must 
be  a  dissolution  within  fifteen  or  sixteen  months,  and  the  House 
of  Lords  are  perfectly  content  to  wait  for  that  time.  They  have 
no  wish  to  force  a  dissolution,  but  they  will  not  accept  a  show 
of  hands  decided  by  not  an  impartial  authority  ;  and  they  insist 
that  this  great  issue  can  only  be  decided  by  the  great  national 
poll. 

But  now  the  point  I  want  to  observe  is  the  doctrine  that  is 
held  on  the  other  side  upon  this  subject.  We  are  told  that  it  is 
an  intolerable  thing  that  the  House  of  Lords  should  have  the 
power  to  force  a  dissolution.  As  I  have  said  to  you,  the  House 
of  Lords  has  never  pretended  to  do  anything  of  the  kind.  All 
it  has  pretended  to  do  is  to  put  by  a  certain  question  until  a  dis- 
solution can  be  had.  But  who  is  to  have  this  power  of  dissolu- 
tion ?  Is  it  the  Crown  ?  No.  Mr.  Gladstone  was  very  careful 
in  his  last  speech  to  point  out  that  the  Crown  in  his  view  meant 
nothing  but  the  decision  of  the  Prime  Minister.  I  do  not  agree 
with  him.  I  do  not  admit  that  to  be  the  constitutional  law. 
In  my  view,  whatever  else  is  surrendered  to  the  discretion  of 
the  Prime  Minister,  this  question  of  dissolution  never  can  be 
disconnected  from  the  initiative  and  the  will  of  the  Crown. 
And  I  will  tell  you  why.  A  dissolution  is  the  only  appeal  the 
people  have  against  a  Prime  Minister  who  is  not  acting  accord- 
ing to  their  wish.  That  the  Prime  Minister  should  have  a  right 
of  advising  an  appeal  to  the  people  I  do  not  deny  for  a  moment, 
but  I  do  deny  that  he  has  a  right  to  interpose  his  will  and  say, 
The  people  may  storm  and  object ;  they  may  think  that  my 
course  is  wrong,  but  so  long  as  I  can  control  the  majority  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  elected  under  my  auspices,  controlled  by 
my  machinery,  so  long  I  will  not  permit  an  appeal  to  be  made 
to  the  people  against  myself.  That  does  not  seem  to  me  to  be 
true  constitutional  law.  But  whether  it  is  true  or  not,  what  I 
wish  to  point  out  to  you  is  the  tendency  of  all  these  new  doc- 
trines that  are  started,  not  to  centre  all  power  into  the  hands  of 
the  Prime  Minister  alone.  Mr.  Chamberlain  insists  that  the 
majority  shall  have  all  power,  and  that  the  minority  shall  have 
no  rights,  and  he  says  that  if  the  majority  abuse  the  power  they 


368  LORD   SALISBURY 

shall  soon  become  a  minority.  Aye,  but  there  are  seven  long 
years  to  run  before  the  majority  becomes  a  minority.  There 
are  seven  long  years  to  run  before  any  abuse  of  power  can  be 
punished,  and  during  that  time  blows  may  be  dealt  against  the 
institutions  of  the  country  which  it  will  be  impossible  afterwards 
to  repair.  In  his  zeal  to  control  the  power  of  the  people  against 
the  House  of  Lords  Mr.  Chamberlain  has  introduced  a  new 
way  of  expressing  the  opinion  of  the  people.  But,  as  you  know, 
or  at  least  as  his  friends  have  thought,  the  best  way  to  express 
the  opinions  of  the  people  is  by  attacking  a  meeting  at  which  so 
moderate  and  careful  a  statesman  as  Sir  Stafford  Northcote 
was  to  express  his  opinions — by  dint  of  bludgeons  and  chair- 
backs  to  make  the  expression  of  opinion  impossible.  Mr. 
Chamberlain  has  been  pleased  to  say  that  this  riot  at  Birming- 
ham was  due  to  some  observations  which  I  made.  The  obser- 
vations which  I  made  were  that  if  he  incited  to  a  riot  I  hoped 
that  he  would  head  the  riot,  when  I  was  pretty  confident  that 
his  head  would  get  broken.  If  Mr.  Chamberlain  means  to  say 
that  a  minister  of  the  Crown  who  incites  a  riot  ought  not  to 
have  his  head  broken  I  differ  from  Mr.  Chamberlain.  To  in- 
cite to  disorder  is  a  grave  offence  on  the  part  of  anybody,  but 
on  the  part  of  a  Cabinet  Minister,  on  the  part  of  one  of  those 
who  are  charged  with  the  peace  and  order  of  the  vast  industrial 
communities  in  which  we  live,  it  is  one  of  the  greatest  offences 
that  a  man  could  commit.  But  I  do  not  wish  to  argue  the 
point  with  Mr.  Chamberlain  if  he  thinks  that  the  penalty  of 
having  his  head  broken  for  such  an  offence  is  too  severe.  For 
the  sake  of  argument  I  am  willing  to  put  the  question  aside. 
Let  us  leave  Mr.  Chamberlain's  head  alone,  and  assume  that 
some  milder  chastisement  would  be  appropriate  to  the  sup- 
posed offence.  What  I  want  to  point  out  to  you  is  that  they 
all  fall  into  the  same  groove,  which  I  have  already  pointed  out 
to  you  as  the  groove  in  which  Liberal  opinion  is  fitting  itself. 
It  all  implies  that  despotic  imposition  of  the  opinion  of  the  ma- 
jority, which  happens  to  be  Liberal,  upon  their  opponents,  and 
the  use  of  any  means,  no  matter  how  repulsive  or  atrocious, 
which  may  seem  likely  to  compass  the  results  at  which  he  aims. 
In  this  country  of  Scotland  you  have  had  some  people  who 
have  even  improved  upon  Mr.  Chamberlain's  lessons.  Sir 
George  Campbell,  who  in  his  time  was  charged  with  the  gov- 


ONE-MAN    POWER  369 

ernment  of  sixty-four  millions  of  people,  and  would  have  dis- 
posed of  anybody  who  had  incited  to  disorder  with  extreme 
rapidity,  is  reported  to  have  said :  "  I  entreat  you  now  to  be 
content  with  lawful  proceedings  " — these  were  his  words — 
"  but  if  the  House  of  Lords  does  not  pass  the  franchise  bill, 
why  then  we  will  take  stronger  measures."  That  is  to  say, 
stronger  measures  than  lawful  proceedings.  That  is  the  kind 
of  result  which  Liberal  doctrine,  as  preached  by  Mr.  Chamber- 
lain, is  producing  in  this  country. 

Now,  there  are  other  indications  of  the  same  tendency — a 
tendency  against  which  I  think  all  good  citizens  should  watch ; 
and  there  are  indications  which  show  at  once  what  danger  at- 
tends this  one-man  power.  In  188 1,  as  you  are  aware,  there 
were  a  series  of  actions  terminating  in  an  action  on  Majuba 
Hill,  and  there  were  a  series  of  negotiations  terminating  in 
a  convention  which  the  Boers  have  not  observed,  and  which 
the  English  ministry  again  and  again  has  consented  to  revise. 
Well,  what  was  our  constitutional  majority  doing  during  that 
time?  Why  was  it  the  House  of  Commons  did  not  interpose 
to  stop  proceedings  so  much  at  variance  with  all  the  traditions 
of  this  country?  The  House  of  Commons  was  blameless 
in  the  matter.  Again  and  again  Sir  Michael  Hicks-Beach 
urged  upon  the  Government  that  some  opportunity  should  be 
given  of  discussing  the  affairs  of  the  Transvaal.  Again  and 
again  the  Prime  Minister,  contrary  to  all  precedent,  refused  to 
give  any  opportunity  for  reviewing  the  conduct  of  his  own 
Government.  Again  and  again  his  power  over  the  majority 
of  the  House  of  Commons  was  used  to  prevent  any  such  discus- 
sion. And  it  was  not  till  the  middle  of  the  month  of  August,  till 
the  House  was  empty  and  everyone  exhausted,  and,  what  is 
more,  till  the  false  steps  had  been  irrevocably  taken,  it  was  not 
till  then  that  a  full  discussion  was  obtained  of  the  policy  to 
which  the  Government  were  committing  the  country.  Again, 
what  happened  this  year?  You  know  what  is  the  state  of  things 
in  Egypt.  I  do  not  know  where  to  begin  in  the  list  of  Govern- 
ment blunders,  because  it  goes  so  far  back;  but  after  the 
destruction  of  poor  General  Hicks  the  Government,  in  a  mo- 
ment of  singular  ill-advisedness,  announced  their  intention 
to  all  the  tribes,  friendly  and  otherwise,  that  they  were  about  to 
abandon  Gordon.  It  was  the  first  piece  of  practice  to  which 
Vol.  II.— 24 


37o  LORD   SALISBURY 

they  ever  committed  themselves.  The  result  was,  of  course, 
the  tribes,  who  always  worship  the  rising  sun,  turned  against 
us,  and  the  lives  of  many  garrisons  to  which  we  were  in  honor 
committed  became  endangered.  Well,  then  the  Government 
conceived  the  extraordinary  idea  of  sending  one  man,  without 
forces  of  any  kind,  to  try  and  save  the  lives  of  those  garrisons. 
It  is  needless  to  say  that  one  man  did  not  succeed,  and  that 
the  garrisons  got  their  throats  cut,  but  that  was  not  all.  The 
one  man,  the  heroic  General  Gordon,  of  whose  character  and 
efforts  it  is  impossible  to  speak  in  language  of  too  high  enco- 
mium, he  in  his  efforts  to  do  the  strange  and  impossible  duty 
which  the  Government  had  imposed  upon  him,  placed  himself 
in  a  position  of  imminent  danger  from  which  he  could  not 
rescue  himself.  And  now  that  the  garrisons  have  had  their 
throats  cut,  and  General  Hicks  has  been  butchered,  at  an  enor- 
mous cost,  something  like,  I  believe,  £150,000  or  £160,000  a 
week,  we  are  fitting  out  a  great  expedition  for  the  purpose  of 
rescuing  the  man  whom  we  ought  not  to  have  sent  on  a  task 
which  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  perform,  in  order  to  save  the 
lives  of  garrisons  who  have  long  ago  been  butchered,  and  to 
attain  no  other  object  whatever  but  in  this  way  to  remedy  the 
pile  of  blunders  which  one  upon  another  the  Government  have 
committed.  This  is  one  very  serious  matter.  We  are  com- 
mitted, in  a  time  of  increasing  distress  and  declining  trade,  to 
a  tremendous  expedition  which,  when  it  has  succeeded,  will 
only  result  in  putting  us  in  the  same  position  in  which  we  were 
two  years  ago,  and  in  which  we  might  have  remained  if  the 
Government  had  had  ordinary  common-sense.  But  that  is  not 
all.  The  Government,  which  have  always  been  so  proud  of 
the  concert  of  Europe,  have  contrived  by  an  act  of  illegality — 
to  which  they  have  added  features  unnecessarily  harsh  and 
repulsive — by  an  act  of  illegality  they  have  contrived  to  unite 
Europe  against  them,  and  cannot  now  count  on  the  counte- 
nance of  any  European  power  in  solving  this  difficult  problem 
which  they  have  made  for  themselves  in  Egypt. 

Again,  I  ask,  where  was  the  constitutional  machine?  Why 
did  not  the  House  of  Commons  interfere  to  prevent  this  great 
absurdity?  The  answer  is  the  same.  Against  all  former  pre- 
cedent the  Government  used  its  majority  to  prevent  the  House 
of  Commons  having  an  opportunity  of  discussion,  and  the 


ONE-MAN   POWER  37l 

mode  in  which  the  Government  used  its  majority  was  so  pecul- 
iar that  I  must  venture  to  dwell  for  a  moment  upon  it.  It 
was  agreed — they  seemed  to  think  that  they  could  not  in  de- 
cency refuse  to  agree — to  give  a  day  for  the  discussion  of  the 
policy  upon  which  the  late  conference  was  initiated,  which 
would  have  given  an  opportunity  for  an  explanation  of  the 
whole  Egyptian  policy.  The  Government  had  given  the  day ; 
the  day  came ;  the  mover  was  there  with  his  motion ;  all  the 
speakers  were  ready ;  all  the  forces  were  assembled  for  a  divi- 
sion, when  there  arose  a  gentleman — and  the  Government  and 
the  gentleman  tell  us  that  it  was  by  accident — there  arose  Mr. 
Goschen,  whose  word  we  are  bound  to  believe,  to  move  that  it 
was  not  expedient  that  this  discussion  should  take  place,  and 
the  Government  thereupon  took  up  his  motion  in  the  strangest 
possible  way.  They  did  not  honestly  vote  with  him ;  they 
voted  against  him ;  but  there  suddenly  spread  through  their 
ranks  an  inconceivable  and  perfectly  unprecedented  paroxysm 
of  disobedience.  All  the  most  devoted  followers  of  the  Gov- 
ernment on  that  occasion  voted  against  them.  It  was  told  to 
me — it  has  been  denied  since,  but  I  suspect  there  was  some- 
thing in  it — that  some  of  those  who  ordinarily  marshalled  the 
forces  of  the  Government  stood  in  the  door,  and  by  signs  not 
easily  mistakable  showed  which  way  their  preference  lay.  At 
all  events,  that  strange  result  was  produced  that  son  was  set 
against  father  and  brother  against  brother  on  that  strange  and 
monstrous  occasion.  Mr.  Gladstone's  son  voted  against  him. 
Lord  Northbrook's  son  voted  against  him.  Lord  Spencer's 
brother  voted  against  him.  It  was  a  fearful  moment  for  the 
dominion  of  the  evil  powers.  The  discussion  did  not  take  place. 
The  controlling  power  of  the  House  of  Commons  was  paral- 
yzed. No  supervision  of  the  Government's  efforts  was  made, 
and  the  result  is  that  hopeless  imbroglio  in  Egypt,  diplomatic 
and  military,  upon  which,  with  so  much  apprehension,  the  peo- 
ple of  this  island  are  now  looking.  Again,  I  say,  you  see  here 
what  is  the  result  of  departing  from  your  old  constitutional 
rules.  You  see  what  is  the  result  of  leaving  to  the  Government 
of  the  day  this  despotic,  unquestioned  power  which  they  claim 
as  the  result  of  Liberal  principles.  You  see  now  what  is  the 
result  of  this  strange  and  monstrous  conversion  which  makes 
the  party  that  professed  to  defend  freedom  and  progress  the 


3?2  LORD   SALISBURY 

champions  of  the  power  of  the  man  and  the  advocates  of  unlim- 
ited submission. 

I  wish  before  I  sit  down  to  turn  for  a  short  time  from  this 
subject,  because  I  confess  I  feel,  and  I  have  felt  in  this  autumn 
campaign,  that  the  result  of  the  argumentative  contest  to  which 
the  Government  has  challenged  us  was  that  a  question  of  im- 
portance, comparatively  secondary,  was  obscuring  matters  of 
far  greater  moment  to  the  country.  I  will  not  refer  on  the 
present  occasion  to  the  great  dangers  and  difficulties  which 
threaten  us  in  connection  with  foreign  affairs,  but  I  will  only  say 
this — that  it  is  not  by  any  act  of  ours  if  those  matters  have  been 
pushed  back  into  the  second  distance,  and  if  the  attention  of 
the  constituencies  and  of  the  people  has  been  concentrated  on  a 
matter  that  is  not,  speaking  comparatively,  of  primary  impor- 
tance. Lord  Hartington  reproaches  us  that  in  the  midst  of  the 
dangers  which  we  point  out  to  the  Empire  we  have  agitated 
this  question.  Our  answer  is,  in«the  first  place,  that  it  was  not 
by  our  advice  that  in  this  particular  crisis  this  question  was 
brought  forward  at  all ;  and,  in  the  second  place,  this  Govern- 
ment have  chosen  to  desert  the  road  which  all  former  Govern- 
ments in  dealing  with  the  reform  of  the  representation  had 
uniformly  trodden  ;  and  that  if  evil  results  have  come  from  this 
abandonment  of  precedent  with  them  and  not  with  us,  who 
point  them  out,  the  responsibility  must  lie.  But  the  matter  to 
which  I  wish  to  call  your  attention — I  hardly  need  to  do  so — is 
the  condition  at  this  moment  in  which  industries  of  the  country 
find  themselves,  and  the  necessity  that  your  attention  and  the 
attention  of  all  who  give  themselves  to  politics,  of  all  who  ex- 
ercise any  influence,  however  humble,  upon  the  management  of 
affairs,  should  be  concentrated  at  this  crisis.  You  know  that  for 
years  back  there  has  been  depression,  and  that  it  seems  to  be 
going  on  from  bad  to  worse.  You  know,  no  one  better,  what 
it  is  in  agriculture.  It  used  to  be  thought,  the  Duke  of  Rich- 
mond's commission  thought  so,  that  there  was  nothing  but  the 
sun  to  blame,  and  that  when  a  good  harvest  came  back  agricul- 
tural prosperity  would  return  with  it ;  but  we  have  had  a  year 
which  I  imagine  is  as  good  as  any  we  can  expect  to  have.  We 
shall  not  have  many  such  years  as  we  have  had  last  year,  and 
yet  I  have  been  told  by  those  to  whom  the  matter  is  familiar  that 
the  agricultural  prospect  in  many  parts  of  the  country  was  never 


ONE-MAN    POWER 


373 


more  gloomy  than  it  is  at  the  present  moment.  Why  is  that  ? 
First,  because  your  prices  have  failed.  And  why  have  your 
prices  failed  ?  Because  your  buyers  are  no  longer  numerous  or 
keen.  And  why  are  your  buyers  no  longer  numerous  or  keen  ? 
Because  trade  and  industry  no  longer  give  them  the  material 
wherewith  to  purchase.  Therefore  your  inland  market  is  de- 
stroyed. I  know  that  outside  agriculture  a  cry  of  distress  is 
rising  from  one  after  another  of  the  great  industries  by  which 
this  great  country  is  supported.  We  have  heard  terrible  ac- 
counts from  Sunderland  of  30,000  to  40,000  being  out  of  work. 
When  I  was  in  Glasgow  they  told  me  there  were  as  many  as 
50,000  people  out  of  work  there.  I  believe  that  in  Newcastle 
the  distress  is  assuming  graver  and  graver  proportions  every 
day.  For  some  reason  or  other  the  great  mechanism  by  which 
the  trade  and  industry  of  this  country  have  hitherto  been 
worked  seems  to  have  failed  at  some  points,  and  we  only  ask, 
What  is  the  cause,  and  how  far  is  it  possible  that,  by  powers 
which  Government  possess,  by  the  action  of  any  political  force, 
any  mitigation  of  this  evil  can  be  brought  about. 

Do  not  let  me  seem  to  hold  out  a  hope  which  I  do  not  myself 
entertain,  that  any  action  of  the  Government  can  wholly  miti- 
gate the  distress  under  which  we  suffer.  I  know  that  it  is  not 
so,  that  there  are  causes  outside  the  power  of  any  political  ma- 
chinery which  impose  upon  us  the  suffering  which  is  now  pres- 
ent, and  which  is,  I  fear,  in  the  immediate  future.  But  though 
we  may  not  be  able  to  prevent  we  may  be  able  to  palliate  and  to 
mitigate,  and  we  must  ask  ourselves,  Is  there  anything  in  the 
political  conduct  of  our  Government  which  aggravates  or  has 
aggravated  this  evil  ?  Is  there  any  change  of  policy  by  which 
these  disasters  can  be  mitigated  or  averted  ?  There  is  one 
thing  that  I  have  always  been  anxious  to  urge  upon  all  assem- 
blies of  my  countrymen — I  feel  that  it  is  not  sufficiently  recog- 
nized in  the  legislation  of  recent  years — and  that  is  that  industry 
cannot  flow  unless  capital  is  confident,  and  capital  will  not  be 
confident  as  long  as  it  fears  that  Parliament  may  meddle  with  it, 
and  balk  it  of  its  profits.  There  is  no  question  of  this,  that  of 
recent  years  Parliament  has  been  singularly  meddlesome.  I  do 
not  say  that  it  is  from  a  bad  motive  ;  on  the  contrary,  usually  the 
motive  has  been  philanthropy — possibly  in  some  cases  of  ill- 
guided  philanthropy — but  always  pure  and  humane  motives 


374  LORD   SALISBURY 

have  been  at  the  bottom  of  this  meddlesome  legislation,  but  the 
effect  has  been  not  to  interfere-'with  periods  of  prosperity,  but 
in  periods  of  difficulty  to  make  capital  shrink  from  exposing  it- 
self to  unknown  dangers  and  to  deprive  the  workman's  industry 
of  the  only  food  by  which  it  can  be  nourished.     In  acting  thus 
men  do  not  think  much  of  the  action  of  Parliament.     They 
think  that,  happen  what  may,  be  the  restrictions  what  they  may, 
they  can  at  all  events  secure  profit  enough  to  pay  them  for  the 
risk  and  trouble  they  incur.     But  when  bad  times  come,  and 
when  the  question  in  every  man's  mind  arises  whether  he  shall 
invest  his  capital  in  an  industry  or  not,  there  comes  up  the 
doubt,  Had  I  not  better  desist,  seeing  the  temper  that  prevails  in 
Parliament  ?     I  know  they  have  passed  act  after  act,  with  what- 
ever motive,  that  has  diminished  our  profits  hitherto.     How 
can  1  know  that  they  will  not  pass  acts  of  the  same  character 
in  future?     And  this  tendency  becomes  much  more  dangerous 
when  the  policy  of  Parliament  approaches,  if  ever  so  small  a 
degree,  to  the  character  of  confiscation.     If  there  is  in  the  legis- 
lation a  tendency  dishonestly  to  interfere  with  the  rights  of  men 
for  the  purpose  of  gaining  Parliamentary  or  electioneering 
strength,  the  evil  is  not  confined  to  the  number  of  people  whom 
their  conduct  injures.     The  evil  spreads  throughout  the  com- 
munity.    A  feeling  of  fear  attaches  itself  to  all  enterprises 
upon  which  the  capitalist  is  invited  to  embark,  and  many  more 
industries  suffer  than  those  which  are  affected  by  the  particular 
legislation  to  which  I  refer. 

Now,  I  will  give  you  an  example.  There  has  been  a  good 
deal  of  legislation  about  land.  I  do  not  wish  in  the  least  to  dis- 
cuss its  character,  but  it  has  had  the  effect  of  frightening  the 
owners  of  land.  What  has  been  the  result?  I  heard  in  this 
neighborhood,  in  this  county,  of  a  very  great  industrial  pro- 
posal, which  would  have  given  employment  to  a  vast  number 
of  men  ;  it  was  laid  before  wealthy  men,  who  were  interested  in 
it  as  territorial  proprietors,  but  the  answer  was :  "  At  ordinary 
times  we  might  have  been  glad  to  look  upon  this  undertak- 
ing. It  might  have  added  to  our  property  and  have  promoted 
the  welfare  of  the  community.  But  with  the  tendency  that  has 
shown  itself  in  Parliament  we  dare  not  risk  any  large  sums  of 
money  and  sink  them  in  improvements  which  would  take  many 
years  to  realize,  because  we  do  not  know  how  far  the  doctrines 


ONE-MAN   POWER  375 

which  now  prevail  may  operate  hereafter  to  prevent  us  reaping 
the  profits  to  which  we  are  entitled."  I  want  you,  if  possible,  to 
put  aside  all  consideration  of  the  owners  of  land  altogether. 
Do  not  think  whether  it  is  just  to  them  or  not.  What  I 
want  you  to  think  of  is  whether  it  is  good  for  a  community, 
and  what  I  say  is  that  this  feeling  of  doubt  and  apprehen- 
sion is  the  most  dangerous  disease  by  which  the  industry  of 
a  community  could  be  affected.  It  affects  a  community  pre- 
cisely as  cattle  disease  has  affected  the  industry  of  cattle-breed- 
ing in  this  country.  The  foot-and-mouth  disease  was  only  in 
a  few  localities  by  itself;  it  did  not  do  an  enormous  amount  of 
harm,  but  it  filled  every  man's  mind  with  apprehension,  it 
limited  the  investment  of  capital,  and  as  the  investment  of  cap- 
ital was  limited  employment  was  restricted,  wages  ceased  to 
flow,  and  distressed  populations  had  to  appeal  to  the  sympathy 
of  the  public  for  their  support.  That  is  one  serious  evil  of  the 
tendency  which  recent  Parliaments  have  shown  which  I  should 
be  wrong  if  I  did  not  impress  upon  you. 

There  is  another  matter — a  much  more  serious  matter,  and 
one  which  you  must  carefully  consider — and  that  is  the  condi- 
tion of  the  markets  of  the  world.  I  am  not  speaking  now  of 
foreign  policy.  No  doubt  it  is  very  disappointing  that  a  min- 
istry which  came  in  on  principles  of  peace  should  have  so  con- 
ducted its  foreign  policy  that  at  every  step  it  seems  to  dry  up  a 
market  by  which  the  produce  of  the  industry  of  this  country 
might  be  absorbed.  Egypt,  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  China — 
all  these  are  names  familiar  to  the  markets  of  this  country.  In 
all  these  the  operations  which  have  taken  place,  the  political 
events  which  have  developed  themselves  under  the  auspices  of 
the  present  Government,  have  diminished  the  purchasing 
power,  have  restricted  the  exportation,  and  have  consequently 
added  to  the  volume  of  distress  which  threatens  us  in  the  ap- 
proaching winter.  But  there  is  another  and  much  more  seri- 
ous question.  It  is  a  question  which  politicians  do  not  like 
to  deal  with,  but  which  will  grow  from  year  to  year,  and  which 
invites  the  attention  of  the  people  of  this  country— I  mean  the 
effect  which  obstructive  and  hostile  tariffs  have  upon  the  inter- 
ests of  this  country.  We  have  undergone  as  great  a  disap- 
pointment in  this  respect.  When  free  trade  was  adopted  we 
hoped  that  free  trade  would  spread  through  the  world,  but  we 


376  LORD   SALISBURY 

are  almost  the  only  converts  after  nearly  half  a  century  has 
passed.  It  is  not  only  so,  but  matters  seem  to  be  getting  worse 
rather  than  better.  I  do  not  know  if  you  have  noticed  the  fact 
that  in  the  French  Chambers  the  French  Minister  has  recently 
announced  his  intention  of  putting  a  duty  upon  corn  and  a  fresh 
duty  upon  cattle.  I  do  not  quote  it  as  a  case  of  a  tariff  which 
interferes  with  the  exports  of  this  country.  I  quote  it  to  show 
you  that  the  anticipations  which  were  entertained  years  and 
years  ago  that  all  nations,  when  we  once  set  the  example,  would 
follow  in  our  footsteps  in  free  trade,  have,  most  unhappily,  not 
been  realized.  Mr.  Bright  is  very  fond  of  referring  to  the 
achievements  of  free  trade  as  one  that  entitles  him  forever  to  the 
gratitude  of  his  countrymen.  I  do  not  differ  as  to  the  value  of 
free  trade,  but  I  differ  very  much  as  to  the  value  of  Mr.  Bright's 
services.  When  free  trade  was  pressed  upon  Lord  Melbourne 
just  at  the  close  of  his  administration  in  1840 — and  Lord  Mel- 
bourne, as  you  know,  was  a  Liberal  minister — his  answer  was : 
"  I  admire  free  trade  exceedingly,  but  it  seems  to  me  absurd  to 
introduce  it  without  some  communication  with  the  other  na- 
tions of  the  world ;  because  if  we  do  so  we  sacrifice  the  only 
bribe  that  we  have  to  offer  them  when  we  admit  their  produce 
free  to  induce  them  to  do  the  same."  That  was  the  opinion  of 
Lord  Melbourne.  About  that  time  Mr.  Bright  came  into  the 
controversy.  He  did  not  deal  with  it  as  a  matter  of  scientific 
discussion,  as  a  question  to  be  argued  out  before  the  tribunal  of 
the  people ;  he  dealt  with  it  as  an  opportunity  of  setting  class 
against  class.  He  seized  upon  that  one  question  of  the  corn 
laws,  and  he  tried,  and  with  his  friends  he  was  successful  in  his 
efforts,  to  persuade  them  that  the  only  obstacle,  the  only  objec- 
tion, to  free  trade  was  the  greed  which  he  imputed  to  the  owners 
and  the  occupiers  of  the  land.  What  was  the  result  of  this  turn 
to  the  controversy  given  by  Mr.  Bright  ?  He  has  always  loved 
to  treat  every  political  discussion  as  material  for  sowing  dissen- 
sion between  the  classes  of  which  this  community  is  composed. 
He  raised  a  formidable  agitation,  and  Sir  Robert  Peel,  rightly  or 
wrongly,  was  of  opinion  that  it  was  necessary  for  the  interests 
of  the  country  that  that  agitation  should  be  closed.  Without 
waiting  for  any  negotiations  with  foreign  powers  he  introduced 
the  system  of  free  trade,  which  Mr.  Gladstone  has  carried  fur- 
ther, and  the  consequence  is  that  we  have  now  no  motive  by 


ONE-MAN   POWER  377 

which  we  can  prevail  upon  foreign  powers  to  lower  tariffs  or 
open  their  markets  to  our  industries,  which  sorely  need  them. 
Do  not  understand  me  to  be  blaming  Sir  Robert  Peel.  He 
acted  under  great  difficulties,  and  there  is  much  to  be  said  for 
what  he  did,  but  that  the  result  of  that  one-sided  policy  of  free 
trade  has  been  unfortunate  I,  for  one,  cannot  doubt.  It  puts 
us  in  the  position  that  though  we  gain  by  the  free  importation 
of  corn  and  other  materials,  so  that  the  prices  of  them  are  low 
to  the  consumers,  we  do  not  gain  all  that  we  might  have  gained. 
We  do  not  gain  an  issue  for  the  industry  of  our  own  community 
or  for  the  exportation  of  goods  that  we  produce.  We  do  not 
gain  an  issue  to  those  industries,  and  therefore  those  industries 
languish.  Therefore  employment  is  becoming  scarcer,  wages 
are  becoming  smaller,  and  the  distress  of  the  population  is  be- 
coming larger,  and  the  blessings  of  free  trade,  which  ought  to 
have  been  enormous,  have  been  robbed  of  half  their  value,  owing 
to  the  precipitate  and  the  improvident  manner  in  which  the  po- 
sition of  this  country  as  regards  other  countries  was  sacrificed. 
Well  now,  I  have  pressed  this  point  upon  you  precisely  be- 
cause in  all  this  matter  of  free  trade  there  is  a  habit  on  the  part 
of  ministerial  advocates  of  what  I  may  call  browbeating.  They 
treat  this  question  of  free  trade  as  if  it  were  some  revelation  from 
heaven  which  it  would  be  blasphemy  to  inquire  into.  If  you 
suggest  that  some  particular  working  of  it  should  be  examined, 
if  you  ask  for  an  inquiry  into  the  effect  on  some  particular  in- 
dustry, if  you  say  that,  owing  to  some  miscalculation,  it  has  not 
produced  all  that  was  expected  of  it,  they  cried  out,  "  Oh !  you 
are  a  mere  protectionist ;  all  your  protestations  are  of  no  avail ; 
we  will  not  listen  to  you  for  a  moment."  I  protest  against  deal- 
ing in  that  spirit  with  any  question  which  affects  the  industry 
and  the  livelihood  of  vast  masses  of  our  countrymen.  Politics 
is  not  an  exact  science,  and  if  those  formulas  of  free  trade  in 
which  they  trust  are  not  producing  the  results  which  they  an- 
ticipated, and  which  they  promised  to  us,  we,  at  least,  without 
incurring  the  imputation  of  any  economic  heresy,  may  press 
for  an  inquiry  to  examine  where  is  the  defect,  where  the  short- 
coming to  which  our  misfortunes  point.  I  am  anxious,  in 
speaking  the  words  which  I  believe  will  close  the  autumn  con- 
troversy, to  urge  upon  you  that  you  should  not  allow  the 
matters  that  we  have  discussed,  however  important  they  are, 


378  LORD  SALISBURY 

to  obscure  in  your  sight  the  far  more  momentous  questions 
which  surround  the  industry,  the  employment,  the  social  well- 
being  of  the  people.  It  seems  a  mere  derision  to  tell  men  who 
are  starving  in  Sunderland  and  Glasgow  that  we  are  fighting 
for  the  question  as  to  how  they  shall  exercise  their  privilege  at 
the  ballot-box ;  to  offer  to  men  who  are  without  employment, 
who  have  muscles  to  labor,  but  who  cannot  with  their  best  will 
compass  the  limits  of  their  daily  need — to  offer  to  them  some 
extension  of  the  franchise  or  arrangement  of  seats  is  like  offer- 
ing a  stone  to  those  who  are  asking  for  bread.  I  entreat  you  not 
to  allow  these  questions  to  be  banished  from  your  minds  by  the 
din  of  the  controversy  which  is  now  passing  away.  I  do  not  say 
that  I  can  put  into  any  formula  that  can  be  placed  at  a  meeting 
like  this  the  remedy  that  may  be  required.  What  I  ask  is  that 
the  best  intellect  of  the  country  shall  be  applied  to  the  discovery 
of  what  is  the  cost  of  the  most  terrible  evil  by  which  the  country 
can  be  afflicted.  I  know  there  are  complicated  difficulties.  I 
know  that  by  diplomatic  instruments  we,  in  the  full  confidence 
in  our  political  orthodoxy,  have  been  winding  band  after  band 
round  our  own  limbs,  so  that  in  many  cases  we  are  not  free  to 
move.  I  know  that  such  a  position  involves  relations  unpre- 
cedented in  the  history  of  the  world  with  our  self-governed 
colonies ;  I  know  it  involves  our  imperial  relations  with  far- 
distant  lands.  I  do  not  ask  for  a  simple  remedy  or  profess  to 
have  any  compact  or  ready  nostrum  by  which  our  difficulties 
can  be  dispelled.  All  I  propose  to  you  is,  do  not  allow  your- 
selves to  be  driven  off  from  the  consideration  of  this  momentous 
question  by  being  told  that  you  are  protectionists  in  disguise, 
or  by  being  told  that  this  is  a  thing  which  has  been  decided 
many  years  ago,  and  that  if  you  venture  to  inquire  into  it  you 
will  suggest  doubts  of  the  soundness  of  the  opinions  you  enter- 
tain. The  interests  that  are  involved  are  far  too  large,  far  too 
deep,  too  pathetic,  and  too  perilous  for  arguments  of  that  kind. 
This  agitation  which  has  taken  place  during  the  autumn  is  in 
many  respects  highly  beneficial  to  the  country.  I  think  it  has 
brought  before  the  minds  of  the  people  of  the  country  questions 
with  which  they  must  grapple,  facts  which  they  must  learn  to 
understand,  if  they  are  to  be  our  rulers.  I  desire  nothing  better 
than  that  they  should  be  thoroughly  and  perfectly  informed. 
I  think  the  agitation  has  had  a  tendency  to  strengthen  the 


ONE-MAN   POWER  379 

House  of  Lords  in  the  opinion  of  the  people  of  this  country. 
But  the  only  reason  for  which  I  could  possibly  regret  it  would 
be  if  it  should  have  the  effect  of  diverting  your  minds  and  the 
minds  of  the  constituencies  of  this  country  from  the  far  graver 
and  more  important  questions  which  are  approaching  us  in  the 
immediate  future.  I  should  regret  it  deeply  if  it  blinded  your 
eyes  to  the  dark  and  black  clouds  which  are  surrounding  our 
horizon.  I  should  regret  it  deeply  if  it  diverted  your  atten- 
tion from  the  problems  which  you  as  governors  of  this  coun- 
try must  grapple  with  and  must  solve.  I  should  regret  it 
deeply  if  it  induces  us  for  a  moment  to  forget  that  the  first 
function  of  government,  its  most  vital  and  imperative  duty,  is 
to  care  for  the  industry,  the  vast  industry,  whose  prosperity  or 
depression  means  the  difference  between  well-being  and  misery, 
between  health  and  disease,  between  a  life  of  hope  and  a  life  of 
despair  to  millions  of  our  toiling  fellow-countrymen. 


FUNERAL  ORATION  ON  GENERAL 

GRANT 


BY 


CANON     FARRAR 

(Frederic  William  Farrar) 


FREDERIC  WILLIAM  FARRAR,  CANON  FARRAR 

Frederic  William  Farrar  was  born  at  Bombay,  India,  August  7,  1831. 
He  was  educated  at  King  William's  College,  in  the  Isle  of  Man,  and 
later  at  King's  College,  London.  He  graduated  from  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge,  in  1854,  with  the  highest  honors,  was  made  fellow  of  Trinity 
two  years  later,  became  a  master  of  arts  in  1857,  and  was  admitted  into 
priest's  orders  the  same  year. 

For  many  years,  from  1855  to  1871,  Farrar  was  one  of  the  assistant 
masters  at  Harrow,  first  under  Dr.  Vaughan  and  later  under  Dr.  Butler. 
For  the  succeeding  five  years,  from  1871  to  1876,  he  held  the  head- 
mastership  at  Marlborough.  He  has  been  repeatedly  one  of  the  select 
preachers  at  Cambridge  and  chosen  to  deliver  special  lectures  at  both  uni- 
versities. He  was  appointed  chaplain-in-ordinary  to  the  Queen  in  1873 
and,  in  April,  1876,  to  a  canonry  in  Westminster  Abbey  and  to  the  rector- 
ship of  St.  Margaret's.  Made  Archdeacon  of  Westminster  in  1883,  he 
accepted  the  chaplaincy  of  the  House  of  Commons  in  1890.  To  this 
uninterrupted  series  of  preferments  we  must  add  his  latest  appointment 
as  Dean  of  Canterbury  and  Deputy  Clerk  to  the  closet  of  the  Queen  in 
1895. 

As  an  author  Canon  Farrar  has  gained  some  distinction  in  three  dis- 
tinct fields  of  labor.  He  is  the  author  of  some  works  of  fiction,  in  which 
he  depicts  school  and  college  life  from  his  own  experience;  they  have 
retained  their  popularity  with  the  readers  for  whom  they  were  intended. 
His  practical  work  at  school  led  him  to  undertake  philological  researches, 
the  results  of  which,  embodied  in  several  works,  while  not  of  the  high- 
est scientific  value,  have  done  much  to  make  the  subjects  popular  and 
to  stimulate  others  to  further  inquiry.  He  has  also  written  much  on 
public  education,  and  done  much  to  enlarge  the  ideas  on  this  subject 
in  England. 

The  greater  number  of  works  of  Canon  Farrar  have,  however,  been 
produced  by  him  as  a  theologian  and  a  religious  writer,  among  these 
his  "  Life  of  Christ  "  is  undoubtedly  the  best  known  and  most  widely 
read,  reaching  its  twelfth  edition  in  a  single  year.  Being  of  a  specu- 
lative turn  of  mind,  yet  in  close  touch  with  the  tendencies  and  aspira- 
tions of  the  times,  he  is  one  of  those  men  who  thoroughly  appreciate 
the  difficulties  which  the  Christian  Church  encounters  from  materialistic 
philosophy  and  the  unsparing  criticism  of  the  day. 

On  his  visit  to  America  in  1885  Canon  Farrar  was  received  every- 
where with  a  hearty  welcome  from  all  classes.  Of  late  years  he  has 
become  an  advocate  of  the  entire  suppression  of  the  traffic  in  liquor. 

The  many  distinctions  he  had  conferred  upon  him  give  ample  proof 
of  his  great  powers  in  the  pulpit.  His  thoughts  are  always  clear,  logical, 
and  well  arranged,  while  the  style  in  his  sermons,  as  in  his  books,  is 
invariably  brilliant  and  rhetorical.  His  "  Funeral  Oration  on  General 
Grant,"  delivered  in  London  simultaneously  with  General  Grant's  fune- 
ral in  America,  is  a  beautiful  and  touching  eulogy. 


382 


FUNERAL  ORATION  ON  GENERAL  GRANT 

Delivered  in  Westminster  Abbey,  London,  August  4,  1885. 

EIGHT  years  have  not  passed  since  the  Dean  of  West- 
minster, whom  Americans  so  much  loved  and  honored, 
was  walking  round  this  Abbey  with  General  Grant,  and 
explaining  to  him  its  wealth  of  great  memorials.  Neither  of 
them  had  attained  the  allotted  span  of  human  life,  and  for  both 
we  might  have  hoped  that  many  years  would  elapse  before 
they  went  down  to  the  grave,  full  of  years  and  honors.  But 
this  is  already  the  fourth  summer  since  the  dean  fell  asleep,  and 
to-day  we  are  assembled  at  the  obsequies  of  the  great  soldier 
whose  sun  has  gone  down  while  it  yet  was  day,  and  at  whose 
funeral  service  in  America  tens  of  thousands  are  assembled  at 
this  moment  to  mourn  with  his  widow,  family,  and  friends. 
Yes ;  life  at  the  best  is  but  as  a  vapor  that  passeth  away.  The 
glories  of  our  birth  and  state  are  shadows,  not  substantial 
things.  But  when  death  comes,  what  nobler  epitaph  can  any 
man  have  than  this,  that,  having  served  his  generation,  by  the 
will  of  God  he  fell  asleep?  Little  can  the  living  do  for  the  dead. 
The  pomps  and  ceremonies  of  earthly  grandeur  have  lost  their 
significance,  but  when  our  soul  shall  leave  its  dwelling  the 
story  of  one  fair  and  virtuous  action  is  above  all  the  escutcheons 
on  our  tombs  or  silken  banners  over  us.  I  would  desire  to 
speak  simply  and  directly,  and,  if  with  generous  appreciation, 
yet  with  no  idle  flattery  of  him  whose  death  has  made  a  nation 
mourn.  His  private  life,  the  faults  and  failings  of  his  character, 
whatever  they  may  have  been,  belong  in  no  sense  to  the  world. 
They  are  for  the  judgment  of  God,  whose  merciful  forgiveness 
is  necessary  for  the  best  of  what  we  do  and  are.  We  touch  only 
on  his  public  actions  and  services,  the  record  of  his  strength, 
his  magnanimity,  his  self-control,  his  generous  deeds.  His 
life  falls  into  four  marked  divisions,  of  which  each  has  its  own 

383 


384  CANON    FARRAR 

lesson  for  us.  He  touched  on  them  himself  in  part  when  he 
said: 

"  Bury  me  either  at  West  Point,  where  I  was  trained  as  a 
youth ;  or  in  Illinois,  which  gave  me  my  first  commission  ;  or 
in  New  York,  which  sympathized  with  me  in  my  misfortunes." 

His  wish  has  been  respected,  and  on  the  cliff  overhanging 
the  Hudson  his  monument  will  stand,  to  recall  to  the  memory 
of  future  generations  those  dark  days  of  a  nation's  history 
which  he  did  so  much  to  close.  First  came  the  early  years  of 
growth  and  training,  of  poverty  and  obscurity,  of  struggle  and 
self-denial.  Poor  and  humbly  born,  he  had  to  make  his  own 
way  in  the  world.  God's  unseen  providence,  which  men  nick- 
name chance,  directed  his  boyhood.  A  cadetship  was  given 
him  at  the  military  academy  of  West  Point,  and  after  a  brief 
period  of  service  in  the  Mexican  War,  in  which  he  was  three 
times  mentioned  in  despatches,  seeing  no  opening  for  a  soldier 
in  what  seemed  likely  to  be  days  of  unbroken  peace,  he  settled 
down  to  a  humble  life  in  a  provincial  town.  Citizens  of  St. 
Louis  will  remember  the  rough  backwoodsman  who  sold  cord 
wood  from  door  to  door,  and  who  afterwards  became  a  leather- 
seller  in  the  obscure  town  of  Galena.  Those  who  knew  him  in 
those  days  have  said  that  if  anyone  had  predicted  that  the  silent, 
unprosperous,  unambitious  man,  whose  chief  aim  was  to  get  a 
plank  road  from  his  shop  to  the  railway  depot,  would  become 
twice  President  of  the  United  States,  and  one  of  the  foremost 
men  of  his  day,  the  prophecy  would  have  seemed  extravagantly 
ridiculous.  But  such  careers  are  the  glory  of  the  American  con- 
tinent. They  show  that  the  people  have  a  sovereign  insight 
into  intrinsic  force.  If  Rome  told  with  pride  how  her  dictators 
came  from  the  plough-tail,  America,  too,  may  record  the  answer 
of  the  President  who,  on  being  asked  what  would  be  his  coat- 
of-arms,  answered,  proudly  mindful  of  his  early  struggles,  "  A 
pair  of  shirt  sleeves."  The  answer  showed  a  noble  sense  of 
the  dignity  of  labor,  the  noble  superiority  to  the  vanities  of 
feudalism,  a  strong  conviction  that  men  are  to  be  honored 
simply  as  men  and  not  for  the  prizes  of  birth  and  accident, 
which  are  without  them.  You  have  of  late  years  had  two 
martyr  Presidents,  both  men,  sons  of  the  people.  One  was 
the  homely  man,  who  at  the  age  of  seven  was  a  farm  lad,  at 
seventeen  a  rail-splitter,  at  twenty  a  boatman  on  the  Mississippi, 


FUNERAL   ORATION    ON    GENERAL   GRANT  385 

and  who  in  manhood  proved  to  be  one  of  the  most  honest  and 
God-fearing  of  modern  rulers.  The  other  grew  up  from  a  shoe- 
less child  in  a  log-hut  on  the  prairies,  round  which  the  wolves 
prowled  in  the  winter  snow,  to  be  a  humble  teacher  in  Hiram 
Institute.  With  these  Presidents  America  need  not  blush  to 
name  also  the  leather-seller  of  Galena.  Every  true  man  de- 
rived his  patent  of  nobleness  direct  from  God. 

Did  not  God  choose  David  from  the  sheepfold,  from  follow- 
ing the  ewes  great  with  young  ones,  to  make  him  the  ruler  of 
his  people  Israel  ?  Was  not  the  Lord  of  Life  and  all  the  worlds 
for  thirty  years  a  carpenter  at  Nazareth  ?  Do  not  such  things 
illustrate  the  prophecy  of  Solomon  : 

"  Seest  thou  a  man  diligent  in  his  business  ?  he  shall  stand 
before  kings ;  he  shall  not  stand  before  mean  men." 

When  Abraham  Lincoln  sat,  book  in  hand,  day  after  day, 
under  the  tree,  moving  round  it  as  the  shadow  crossed,  absorbed 
in  mastering  his  tasks ;  when  James  Garfield  rang  the  bell  at 
Hiram  Institute  on  the  very  stroke  of  the  hour,  and  swept  the 
school-room  as  faithfully  as  he  mastered  his  Greek  lesson ; 
when  Ulysses  Grant,  sent  with  his  team  to  meet  some  men 
who  came  to  load  his  cart  with  logs,  and,  finding  no  men,  loaded 
the  cart  with  his  own  boy's  strength — they  showed  in  the  con- 
scientious performance  of  duty  the  qualities  which  were  to 
raise  them  to  become  kings  of  men.  When  John  Adams  was 
told  that  his  son,  John  Quincy  Adams,  had  been  elected  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  he  said:  "He  has  always  been 
laborious,  child  and  man,  from  infancy." 

But  the  youth  was  not  destined  to  die  in  the  deep  valley  of 
obscurity  and  toil,  in  which  it  is  the  lot — and  perhaps  the  happy 
lot — of  most  of  us  to  spend  our  little  lives.  The  hour  came ; 
the  man  was  needed.  In  1861  there  broke  out  that  most  terrible 
war  of  modern  days.  Grant  received  a  commission  as  colonel 
of  volunteers,  and  in  four  years  the  struggling  toiler  had  been 
raised  to  the  chief  command  of  a  vaster  army  than  had  ever 
been  handled  by  any  mortal  man.  Who  could  have  imagined 
that  four  years  would  make  that  enormous  difference  ?  But  it 
is  often  so.  The  great  men  needed  for  such  tremendous  crises 
have  stepped  often,  as  it  were,  out  of  a  door  in  the  wall  which 
no  man  had  noticed ;  and,  unannounced,  unheralded,  without 
prestige,  have  made  their  way  silently  and  single-handed  to 
Vol.  II.— 25 


386 


CANON    FARRAR 


the  front.    And  there  was  no  luck  in  it.    It  was  a  work  of  in- 
flexible faithfulness,  of  indomitable  resolution,  of  sleepless  en- 
ergy, and  iron  purpose  and  tenacity.    In  the  campaigns  of  Fort 
Donelson ;    in  the  desperate  battle  at  Shiloh ;    in  the  siege  of 
Corinth  ;  in  the  successful  assaults  at  Pittsburg ;  in  battle  after 
battle,  in  siege  after  siege ;   whatever  Grant  had  to  do,  he  did 
it  with  his  might.     Other  generals  might  fail — he  would  not 
fail.    He  showed  what  a  man  could  do  whose  will  was  strong. 
He  undertook,  as  General  Sherman  said  of  him,  what  no  one 
else  would  have  ventured,  and  his  very  soldiers  began  to  reflect 
something  of  his  indominable  determination.    His  sayings  re- 
vealed the  man.     "  I  have  nothing  to  do  with  opinions,"  he 
said,  at  the  outset,  "  and  shall  only  deal  with  armed  rebellion." 
"  In  riding  over  the  field,"  he  said  at  Shiloh,  "  I  saw  that  either 
side  was  ready  to  give  way,  if  the  other  showed  a  bold  front.    I 
took  the  opportunity,  and  ordered  an  advance  along  the  whole 
line."     "  No  terms,"  he  wrote  to  General  Buckner  at  Fort 
Donelson  (and  it  is  pleasant  to  know  that  General  Buckner 
stood  as  a  warm  friend  beside  his  dying  bed) ;  "  no  terms  other 
than  unconditional  surrender  can  be  accepted."     "  My  head- 
quarters," he  wrote  from  Vicksburg,  "  will  be  on  the  field." 
With  a  military  genius  which  embraced  the  vastest  plans  while 
attending  to  the  smallest  details,  he  defeated,  one  after  an- 
other, every  great  general  of  the  Confederates,  except  General 
Stonewall  Jackson.    The  Southerners  felt  that  he  held  them  as  in 
the  grasp  of  a  vise ;  that  this  man  could  neither  be  arrested  nor 
avoided.    For  all  this  he  has  been  severely  blamed.    He  ought 
not  to  be  blamed.     He  has  been  called  a  butcher,  which  is 
grossly  unjust.     He  loved  peace;    he  hated  bloodshed;    his 
heart  was  generous  and  kind.    His  orders  were  to  save  lives,  to 
save  treasure,  but  at  all  costs  to  save  his  country — and  he  did 
save  his  country.    His  army  cheerfully  accepted  the  sacrifice, 
wrote  its  farewells,  buckled  its  belts,  and  stood  ready.    The 
struggle  was  not  for  victory ;  it  was  for  existence.    It  was  not 
for  glory  ;  it  was  for  life  and  death.    Grant  had  not  only  to  de- 
feat armies,  but  to  annihilate  their  forces ;  to  leave  no  choice 
but  destruction  or  submission.    He  saw  that  the  brief  ravage  of 
the  hurricane  is  infinitely  less  ruinous  than  the  interminable 
malignity  of  the  pestilence,  and  in  the  colossal  struggle,  vic- 
tory, swift,  decisive,  overwhelming,  was  the  truest  mercy.    In 


FUNERAL  ORATION   ON   GENERAL   GRANT         3S7 

silence  and  with  determination,  and  with  clearness  of  insight, 
he  was  like  your  Washington  and  our  Wellington.  He  was 
like  them  also  in  this,  that  the  word  "  cannot  "  did  not  exist  in 
a  soldier's  dictionary,  and  what  he  achieved  was  achieved  with- 
out bluster.  In  the  hottest  fury  of  all  his  battles,  his  speech 
was  never  known  to  be  more  than  "  yea,  yea,"  and  "  nay,  nay." 
He  met  General  Lee  at  Appomattox.  He  received  his  sur- 
render with  faultless  delicacy.  He  immediately  issued  an  order 
that  the  Confederates  should  be  supplied  with  rations.  Im- 
mediately his  enemies  surrendered,  he  gave  them  terms  as 
simple  and  as  generous  as  a  brother  could  have  given  them — 
terms  which  healed  differences ;  terms  of  which  they  freely  ac- 
knowledged the  magnanimity.  Not  even  entering  the  capital, 
avoiding  all  ostentation,  undated  by  triumph,  as  unruffled  by 
adversity,  he  hurried  back  to  stop  recruits  and  to  curtail  the 
vast  expenses  of  the  country.  After  the  surrender  at  Appomat- 
tox Court  House  the  war  was  over.  He  had  put  his  hand  to 
the  plough  and  had  looked  not  back.  He  had  made  blow  after 
blow,  each  following  where  the  last  had  struck ;  he  had  wield- 
ed like  a  hammer  the  gigantic  forces  at  his  disposal,  and  had 
smitten  opposition  into  the  dust.  It  was  a  mighty  work,  and 
he  had  done  it  well.  Surely  history  has  shown  that  for  the 
future  destinies  of  a  mighty  nation  it  was  a  necessary  and 
blessed  work !  The  Church  utters  her  most  indignant  an- 
athema at  an  unrighteous  war,  but  she  has  never  refused  to 
honor  the  faithful  soldiers  who  fight  in  the  cause  of  their  coun- 
try and  God.  The  gentlest  and  most  Christian  of  modern  poets 
has  used  tremendous  thought : 

"  God's  most  dreaded  instrument 
In  working  out  a  pure  intent 
Is  man  arrayed  for  mutual  slaughter, 
Yea,  carnage  is  his  daughter !  " 

We  shudder  even  as  we  quote  the  words,  but  yet  the  cause 
for  which  General  Grant  fought — the  honor  of  a  great  people, 
and  the  freedom  of  a  whole  race  of  mankind — was  a  great  and 
noble  cause.  And  the  South  has  accepted  that  desperate  and 
bloody  arbitrament.  Two  of  the  Southern  generals,  we  rejoice 
to  hear,  will  bear  General  Grant's  funeral  pall.  The  rancor 
and  ill-feeling  of  the  past  are  buried  in  oblivion ;   true  friends 


388  CANON    FARRAR 

had  been  made  out  of  brave  foemen.  Americans  are  no  longer 
Northerners  and  Southerners,  Federals  and  Confederates,  but 
they  are  Americans.  "  Do  not  teach  your  children  to  hate," 
said  General  Lee,  to  an  American  lady ;  "  teach  them  that  they 
are  Americans.  I  thought  that  we  were  better  off  as  one  nation 
than  as  two,  and  I  think  so  now."  "  The  war  is  over,"  said 
Grant,  "  and  the  best  sign  of  rejoicing  after  victory  will  be  to 
abstain  from  all  demonstrations  in  the  field."  "  Let  us  have 
peace,"  were  the  memorable  words  with  which  he  ended  his 
inaugural  address  as  President.  On  the  rest  of  the  great  sol- 
dier's life,  we  will  only  touch  in  very  few  words.  As  Wellington 
became  Prime  Minister  of  England,  and  lived  to  be  hooted  in 
the  streets  of  London,  so  Grant,  more  than  half  against  his  will, 
became  President,  and  for  a  time  lost  much  of  his  popularity. 
He  foresaw  it  all,  but  it  is  not  for  a  man  to  choose  ;  it  is  for  a  man 
to  accept  his  destiny.  What  verdict  history  may  pronounce  on 
him  as  a  politician  I  know  not ;  but  here,  and  now,  the  voice 
of  censure,  deserved  or  undeserved,  is  silent.  When  the  great 
Duke  of  Marlborough  died  and  one  began  to  speak  of  his 
avarice,  "  He  was  so  great  a  man,"  said  Bolingbroke,  "  I  have 
forgotten  that  he  had  that  fault." 

It  was  a  fine  and  delicate  rebuke,  ana  we  do  not  intend  to 
rake  up  a  man's  faults  and  errors.  Those  errors,  whatever  they 
may  have  been,  we  leave  to  the  mercy  of  the  Merciful,  and  the 
atoning  blood  of  his  Saviour.  Beside  the  open  grave,  we  speak 
only  in  gratitude  of  his  great  achievements.  Let  us  record  his 
virtue  in  brass,  for  men's  example ;  but  let  his  faults,  whatever 
they  may  have  been,  be  writ  in  water.  Some  may  think  that 
it  would  have  been  well  for  Grant  if  he  had  died  in  1865,  when 
steeples  clanged  and  cities  were  illuminated  and  congregations 
rose  in  his  honor.  Many  and  dark  clouds  overshadowed  the 
last  of  his  days — the  blow  of  financial  ruin  ;  the  dread  that  men 
should  suppose  that  he  had  a  tarnished  reputation ;  the  terrible 
agony  of  an  incurable  disease.  But  God's  ways  are  not  our 
ways.  To  bear  that  sudden  ruin,  that  speechless  agony,  re- 
quired a  courage  nobler  and  greater  than  that  of  the  battle- 
field, and  human  courage  grows  magnificently  to  the  height  of 
human  need.  "  I  am  a  man,"  said  Frederick  the  Great,  "  and 
therefore  born  to  suffer."  On  the  long  agonizing  death-bed, 
Grant  showed  himself  every  inch  a  hero,  bearing  his  agonies 


FUNERAL   ORATION    ON    GENERAL   GRANT  389 

and  trials  without  a  murmur,  with  rugged  stoicism,  in  un- 
flinching fortitude ;  yes,  and  we  believe  in  a  Christian's  pa- 
tience and  a  Christian's  prayers.  Which  of  us  can  tell  whether 
those  hours  of  torture  and  misery  may  not  have  been  blessings 
in  disguise ;  whether  God  may  not  have  been  refining  the  gold 
from  the  brass,  and  the  strong  man  had  been  truly  purified  by 
the  strong  agony?  We  are  gathered  here  in  England  to  do 
honor  to  his  memory  and  to  show  our  sympathy  with  the  sor- 
row of  a  great  sister  nation.  Could  we  be  gathered  in  a  more 
fitting  place  ?  We  do  not  lack  here  memorials  to  recall  the  his- 
tory of  your  country.  There  is  the  grave  of  Andre  ;  there  is  the 
monument  raised  by  grateful  Massachusetts  to  the  gallant 
Howe  ;  there  is  a  temporary  resting-place  of  George  Peabody  ; 
there  is  the  bust  of  Longfellow ;  over  the  dean's  there  is  the 
faint  semblance  of  Boston  Harbor.  We  add  another  memory 
to-day.  Whatever  there  may  have  been  between  the  two  na- 
tions to  forget  and  forgive,  it  is  forgotten  and  forgiven.  "  I 
will  not  speak  of  them  as  two  peoples,"  said  General  Grant  at 
Newcastle  in  1877,  "  because,  in  fact,  we  are  one  people,  with 
a  common  destiny,  and  that  destiny  will  be  brilliant  in  pro- 
portion to  the  friendship  and  cooperation  of  the  brethren 
dwelling  on  each  side  of  the  Atlantic,"  Oh !  if  the  two  peoples, 
which  are  one  people,  be  true  to  their  duty,  and  true  to  their 
God,  who  can  doubt  that  in  their  hands  are  the  destinies  of  the 
world  ?  Can  anything  short  of  dementation  ever  thwart  a  des- 
tiny so  manifest?  Your  founders  were  our  sons;  it  was  from 
our  past  that  your  present  grew.  The  monument  of  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh  is  not  that  nameless  grave  in  St.  Margaret's ;  it  is  the 
State  of  Virginia.  Yours  and  ours  alike  are  the  memories  of 
Captain  John  Smith  and  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  of  General 
Oglethorpe's  strong  benevolence  of  soul,  of  the  apostolic  holi- 
ness of  Berkeley,  and  the  burning  zeal  of  Wesley  and  White- 
field.  Yours  and  ours  alike  are  the  plays  of  Shakespeare  and 
the  poems  of  Milton  ;  ours  and  yours  alike  are  all  that  you 
have  accomplished  in  literature  or  in  history — the  songs  of 
Longfellow  and  Bryant,  the  genius  of  Hawthorne  and  of  Irving, 
the  fame  of  Washington,  Lee,  and  Grant.  But  great  memories 
imply  great  responsibilities. 

It  was  not  for  nothing  that  God  has  made  England  what  she 
is ;  not  for  nothing  that  the  free  individualism  of  a  busy  multi- 


39° 


CANON    FARRAR 


tude,  the  humble  traders  of  a  fugitive  people,  snatching  the  New 
World  from  feudalism  and  bigotry,  from  Philip  II  and  Louis 
XIV,  from  Menendez  and  Montcalm,  from  the  Jesuit  and  the 
Inquisition,  from  Torquemada,  and  from  Richelieu,  to  make 
it  the  land  of  the  Reformation  and  the  republic  of  Christianity 
and  of  peace.  "  Let  us  auspicate  all  our  proceedings  in  Amer- 
ica," said  Edmund  Burke,  "  with  the  old  Church  cry,  Sursum 
corda."  But  it  is  for  America  to  live  up  to  this  spirit  of  such 
words,  not  merely  to  quote  them  with  proud  enthusiasm.  We 
have  heard  of — 

"  New  times,  new  climes,  new  lands,  new  men,  but  still 
The  same  old  tears,  old  crimes,  and  oldest  ill." 

It  is  for  America  to  falsify  the  cynical  foreboding.  Let  her 
take  her  place  side  by  side  with  England  in  the  very  van  of 
freedom  and  of  progress,  united  by  a  common  language,  by 
common  blood,  by  common  measures,  by  common  interest,  by 
a  common  history,  by  common  hopes ;  united  by  the  common 
glory  of  great  men,  of  which  this  great  temple  of  silence  and 
reconciliation  is  the  richest  shrine.  Be  it  the  steadfast  pur- 
pose of  the  true  peoples  who  are  one  people  to  show  all  the 
world  not  only  the  magnificent  spectacle  of  human  happiness, 
but  the  still  more  magnificent  spectacle  of  two  peoples  which 
are  one  people,  loving  righteousness  and  hating  iniquity,  inflexi- 
bly faithful  to  the  principles  of  eternal  justice  which  are  the 
unchanging  laws  of  God. 


THE    SUBSTANCE    OF    SERMONS 


BY 


CHARLES     HADDON    SPURGEON 


CHARLES   HADDON   SPURGEON 

1834— 1892 

Spurgeon  was  one  of  the  great  natural  orators  of  the  pulpit:  a  phe- 
nomenon hardly  explicable  upon  any  scientific  theory ;  for  there  was 
nothing  in  the  antecedents,  or  in  the  early  personal  experience  of  the 
humble  usher  in  a  Cambridge  private  school  that  can  serve  to  explain 
the  mighty  preacher  who,  when  hardly  twenty  years  of  age,  was  already 
drawing  vast  and  excited  audiences  to  listen  to  what  he  might  have 
to  say  on  the  relations  between  God  and  man.  What  should  the  homely, 
coarse-looking,  crude  Essex  country  boy  know  of  those  rejations?  By 
what  charter  was  he  entitled  to  counsel  and  exhort  his  generation  on 
the  highest  of  human  duties,  and  to  interpret  to  them  the  profound  and 
eternal  wisdom  conveyed  in  the  Book  of  God's  Word  ?  His  figure  was 
squat  and  awkward,  his  face  fat  and  clumsy,  with  heavy  mouth,  snub 
nose,  and  pale  eyes ;  there  was  in  him  no  form  nor  comeliness.  Even 
his  voice  had  none  of  the  exquisite  modulations,  the  tones  of  pathos  and 
spiritual  exaltation,  which  might  rouse  a  drugged  soul  or  spur  self- 
complacent  ungodliness  to  purge  itself  of  sin.  And  yet  Charles  Haddon 
Spurgeon  was  heard,  during  his  ministry,  by  millions  of  men  and  women, 
who  found  in  him  the  chief  incitement  of  their  lives  to  virtue  and  char- 
ity, to  the  patient  endurance  of  pain,  and  to  steadfast  faith  in  God  and 
immortality.  The  words  he  uttered  week  after  week  in  that  Newington 
Tabernacle,  built  especially  to  seat  the  large  and  enthusiastic  crowds 
that  flocked  each  Sabbath  to  hear  him,  were  taken  down,  and  printed, 
and  scattered  broadcast  over  the  English-speaking  world,  to  serve  as 
moral  and  religious  nourishment  to  countless  homes  in  England  and 
America. 

The  biographical  facts  of  his  career  are  few  and  simple.  He  was  born 
at  Kelvedon,  Essex,  June  19,  1834.  After  a  school  education  at  Col- 
chester and  Maidstone,  he  became  usher  of  a  private  school  in  Cam- 
bridge, and  in  1851  pastor  of  a  Baptist  church  near  Cambridge;  whence 
he  removed  with  his  congregation  to  Southwark  in  1853,  and  to  the 
Tabernacle  in  1861.  During  his  ministration  he  found  time  to  found 
an  orphanage,  a  college  for  pastors,  and  various  schools  and  alms- 
houses. He  edited  a  magazine,  "  The  Sword  and  Trowel,"  and  wrote 
numerous  books  of  religious  exhortation  and  counsel.  He  died,  worn 
out  in  body,  but  full  of  spiritual  vitality  to  the  last,  in  1892,  at  the 
age  of  fifty-eight.  The  "  Substance  of  Sermons,"  given  here,  is  filled 
with  advice  to  young  ministers.  It  is  characteristic  of  Spurgeon's  best 
style,  being  concise,  thoughtful,  and  penetrating  to  the  heart  of  the 
subject. 


392 


THE  SUBSTANCE  OF  SERMONS 

WE  must  throw  all  our  strength  of  judgment,  memory, 
imagination,  and  eloquence,  into  the  delivery  of  the 
gospel ;  and  not  give  to  the  preaching  of  the  cross  our 
random  thoughts  while  wayside  topics  engross  our  deeper  medi- 
tations.  Depend  upon  it,  if  we  brought  the  intellect  of  a  Locke 
or  a  Newton,  and  the  eloquence  of  a  Cicero,  to  bear  upon  the 
simple  doctrine  of  "believe  and  live,"  we  should  find  no  sur- 
plus strength.    Brethren,  first  and  above  all  things,  keep  to 
plain  evangelical  doctrines ;  whatever  else  you  do  or  do  not 
preach,  be  sure  incessantly  to  bring  forth  the  soul-saving  truth 
of  Christ  and  Him  crucified.   I  know  a  minister  whose  shoe-lat- 
chet I  am  unworthy  to  unloose,  whose  preaching  is  often  little 
better  than  sacred  miniature  painting — I  might  also  say  holy 
trifling.     He  is  great  upon  the  ten  toes  of  the  beast,  the  four 
faces  of  the  cherubim,  the  mystical  meaning  of  badgers'  skins, 
and  the  typical  bearings  of  the  staves  of  the  ark,  and  the  win- 
dows of  Solomon's  temple ;  but  the  sins  of  business  men,  the 
temptations  of  the  times,  and  the  needs  of  the  age,  he  scarcely 
ever  touches  upon.     Such  preaching  reminds  me  of  a  lion  en- 
gaged in  mouse  hunting,  or  a  man-of-war  cruising  after  a  lost 
water-butt.     Topics  scarcely  in  importance  equal  to  what  Peter 
calls  "  old  wives'  fables,"  are  made  great  matters  of  by  those 
microscopic  divines  to  whom  the  nicety  of  a  point  is  more  at- 
tractive than  the  saving  of  souls.     You  will  have  read  in  Todd's 
"  Student's  Manual  "    that  Harcatius,  King  of  Persia,  was  a 
notable  mole-catcher;  and  Briantes,  King  of  Lydia,  was  equally 
au  fait  at  filing  needles  ;  but  these  trivialities  by  no  means  prove 
them  to  have  been  great  kings  ;  it  is  much  the  same  in  the  min- 
istry ;  there  is  such  a  thing  as  meanness  of  mental  occupation 
unbecoming  the  rank  of  an  ambassador  of  heaven. 

Among  a  certain  order  of  minds  at  this  time  the  Athenian 
desire  of  telling  or  hearing  some  new  thing  appears  to  be  pre- 

393 


394 


SPURGEON 


dominant.  They  boast  of  new  light,  and  claim  a  species  of  in- 
spiration which  warrants  them  in  condemning  all  who  are  out 
of  their  brotherhood,  and  yet  their  grand  revelation  relates  to 
a  mere  circumstantial  of  worship,  or  to  an  obscure  interpreta- 
tion of  prophecy ;  so  that,  at  sight  of  their  great  fuss  and  loud 
cry  concerning  so  little,  we  are  reminded  of 

"  Ocean  into  tempest  tossed 
To  waft  a  feather  or  to  drown  a  fly." 

Worse  still  are  those  who  waste  time  in  insinuating  doubts  con- 
cerning the  authenticity  of  texts,  or  the  correctness  of  Biblical 
statements  concerning  natural  phenomena.  Painfully  do  I  call 
to  mind  hearing  one  Sabbath  evening  a  deliverance  called  a 
sermon,  of  which  the  theme  was  a  clever  inquiry  as  to  whether 
an  angel  did  actually  descend  and  stir  the  pool  at  Bethesda,  or 
whether  it  was  an  intermitting  spring,  concerning  which  Jew- 
ish superstition  had  invented  a  legend.  Dying  men  and  women 
were  assembled  to  hear  the  way  of  salvation,  and  they  were  put 
off  with  such  vanity  as  this!  They  came  for  bread,  and  re- 
ceived a  stone ;  the  sheep  looked  up  to  the  shepherd,  and  were 
not  fed.  Seldom  do  I  hear  a  sermon,  and  when  I  do  I  am 
grievously  unfortunate,  for  one  of  the  last  I  was  entertained 
with  was  intended  to  be  a  justification  of  Joshua  for  destroying 
the  Canaanites,  and  another  went  to  prove  that  it  was  not 
good  for  man  to  be  alone.  How  many  souls  were  converted  in 
answer  to  the  prayers  before  the  sermons  I  have  never  been  able 
to  ascertain,  but  I  shrewdly  suspect  that  no  unusual  rejoicing 
disturbed  the  serenity  of  the  golden  streets. 

Believing  my  next  remark  to  be  almost  universally  unneeded, 
I  bring  it  forward  with  diffidence — do  not  overload  a  sermon 
with  too  much  matter.  All  truth  is  not  to  be  comprised  in  one 
discourse.  Sermons  are  not  to  be  bodies  of  divinity.  There 
is  such  a  thing  as  having  too  much  to  say,  and  saying  it  till  hear- 
ers are  sent  home  loathing  rather  than  longing.  An  old  minis- 
ter walking  with  a  young  preacher  pointed  to  a  cornfield  and 
observed,  "  Your  last  sermon  had  too  much  in  it,  and  it  was  not 
clear  enough,  or  sufficiently  well  arranged ;  it  was  like  that 
field  of  wheat,  it  contained  much  crude  food,  but  none  fit  for 
use.  You  should  make  your  sermons  like  a  loaf  of  bread,  fit 
for  eating,  and  in  convenient  form."    It  is  to  be  feared  that 


THE   SUBSTANCE   OF   SERMONS  ^5 

human  heads  (speaking  phrenologically)  are  not  so  capacious 
for  theology  as  they  once  were,  for  our  forefathers  rejoiced  in 
sixteen  ounces  of  divinity,  undiluted  and  unadorned,  and  could 
continue  receiving  it  for  three  or  four  hours  at  a  stretch,  but 
our  more  degenerate,  or  perhaps  more  busy,  generation  re- 
quires about  an  ounce  of  doctrine  at  a  time,  and  that  must  be 
the  concentrated  extract  or  essential  oil,  rather  than  the  entire 
substance  of  divinity.  We  must  in  these  times  say  a  great 
deal  in  a  few  words,  but  not  too  much,  nor  with  too  much  am- 
plification. One  thought  fixed  on  the  mind  will  be  better  than 
fifty  thoughts  made  to  flit  across  the  ear.  One  tenpenny  nail 
driven  home  and  clenched  will  be  more  useful  than  a  score 
of  tin-tacks  loosely  fixed,  to  be  pulled  out  again  in  an  hour. 

Our  matter  should  be  well  arranged  according  to  the  true 
rules  of  mental  architecture.  Not  practical  inferences  at  the 
basis  and  doctrines  as  the  topstones  ;  not  metaphors  in  the  foun- 
dations, and  propositions  at  the  summit ;  not  the  more  impor- 
tant truths  first  and  the  minor  teachings  last,  after  the  manner 
of  an  anti-climax ;  but  the  thought  must  climb  and  ascend ; 
one  stair  of  teaching  leading  to  another ;  one  door  of  reason- 
ing conducting  to  another,  and  the  whole  elevating  the  hearer 
to  a  chamber  from  whose  windows  truth  is  seen  gleaming  in 
the  light  of  God.  In  preaching,  have  a  place  for  everything, 
and  everything  in  its  place.  Never  suffer  truths  to  fall  from 
you  pell-mell.  Do  not  let  your  thoughts  rush  as  a  mob,  but 
make  them  march  as  a  troop  of  soldiery.  Order,  which  is 
heaven's  first  law,  must  not  be  neglected  by  heaven's  ambassa- 
dors. 

Your  doctrinal  teaching  should  be  clear  and  unmistakable. 
To  be  so  it  must  first  of  all  be  clear  to  yourself.  Some  men 
think  in  smoke  and  preach  in  a  cloud.  Your  people  do  not 
want  a  luminous  haze,  but  the  solid  terra  Hrrna  of  truth.  Philo- 
sophical speculations  put  certain  minds  into  a  semi-intoxicated 
condition,  in  which  they  either  see  everything  double,  or  see 
nothing  at  all.  The  head  of  a  certain  college  in  Oxford  was 
years  ago  asked  by  a  stranger  what  was  the  motto  of  the  arms 
of  that  university.  He  told  him  that  it  was  "Dominus  ittuminatio 
mea."  But  he  also  candidly  informed  the  stranger  that,  in  his 
private  opinion,  a  motto  more  appropriate  might  be,  "  Aris- 
toteles  tenebrce  mecu."     Sensational  writers  have  half  crazed 


396  SPURGEON 

many  honest  men  who  have  conscientiously  read  their  lucubra- 
tions out  of  a  notion  that  they  ought  to  be  abreast  of  the  age,  as 
if  such  a  necessity  might  not  also  require  us  to  attend  the 
theatres  in  order  to  be  able  to  judge  the  new  plays,  or  frequent 
the  turf  that  we  might  not  be  too  bigoted  in  our  opinions  upon 
racing  and  gambling.  For  my  part,  I  believe  that  the  chief 
readers  of  heterodox  books  are  ministers,  and  that  if  they 
would  not  notice  them  they  would  fall  still-born  from  the  press. 
Let  a  minister  keep  clear  of  mystifying  himself,  and  then  he  is 
on  the  road  to  becoming  intelligible  to  his  people.  No  man 
can  hope  to  be  felt  who  cannot  make  himself  understood.  If 
we  give  our  people  refined  truth,  pure  scriptural  doctrine,  and 
all  so  worded  as  to  have  no  needless  obscurity  about  it,  we  shall 
be  true  shepherds  of  the  sheep,  and  the  profiting  of  our  people 
will  soon  be  apparent. 

Endeavor  to  keep  the  matter  of  your  sermonizing  as  fresh  as 
you  can.  Do  not  rehearse  five  or  six  doctrines  with  unvarying 
monotony  of  repetition.  Buy  a  theological  barrel-organ,  breth- 
ren, with  five  tunes  accurately  adjusted,  and  you  will  be 
qualified  to  practise  as  an  ultra-Calvinistic  preacher  at  Zoar  and 
Jireh,  if  you  also  purchase  at  some  vinegar  factory  a  good  sup- 
ply of  bitter,  acrid  abuse  of  Arminians,  and  duty-faith  men. 
Brains  and  grace  are  optional,  but  the  organ  and  the  worm- 
wood are  indispensable.  It  is  ours  to  perceive  and  rejoice  in 
a  wider  range  of  truth.  All  that  these  good  men  hold  of  grace 
and  sovereignty  we  maintain  as  firmly  and  boldly  as  they ;  but 
we  dare  not  shut  our  eyes  to  other  teachings  of  the  Word,  and 
we  feel  bound  to  make  full  proof  of  our  ministry,  by  declaring 
the  whole  counsel  of  God.  With  abundant  themes  diligently 
illustrated  by  fresh  metaphors  and  experiences,  we  shall  not 
weary,  but,  under  God's  hand,  shall  win  our  hearers'  ears  and 
hearts. 

Let  your  teachings  grow  and  advance ;  let  them  deepen  with 
your  experience,  and  rise  with  your  soul-progress.  I  do  not 
mean  preach  new  truths ;  for,  on  the  contrary,  I  hold  that  man 
happy  who  is  so  well  taught  from  the  first  that,  after  fifty  years 
of  ministry,  he  has  never  had  to  recant  a  doctrine  or  to  mourn 
an  important  omission  ;  but  I  mean  let  our  depth  and  insight 
continually  increase,  and  where  there  is  spiritual  advance  it  will 
be  so.     Timothy  could  not  preach  like  Paul.     Our  earlier  pro- 


THE   SUBSTANCE   OF   SERMONS 


397 


ductions  must  be  surpassed  by  those  of  our  riper  years ;  we 
must  never  make  these  our  models ;  they  will  be  best  burned, 
or  only  preserved  to  be  mourned  over  because  of  their  superfi- 
cial character.  It  were  ill,  indeed,  if  we  knew  no  more,  after 
being  many  years  in  Christ's  school ;  our  progress  may  be 
slow,  but  progress  there  must  be,  or  there  will  be  cause  to  sus- 
pect that  the  inner  life  is  lacking  or  sadly  unhealthy.  Set  it 
before  you  as  most  certain  that  you  have  not  yet  attained,  and 
may  grace  be  given  you  to  press  forward  towards  that  which 
is  yet  beyond.  May  you  all  become  able  ministers  of  the  New 
Testament,  and  not  a  whit  behind  the  very  chief  of  preachers, 
though  in  yourselves  you  will  still  be  nothing. 

The  word  "  sermon  "  is  said  to  signify  a  thrust,  and,  there- 
fore, in  sermonizing  it  must  be  our  aim  to  use  the  subject  in 
hand  with  energy  and  effect,  and  the  subject  must  be  capable 
of  such  employment.  To  choose  mere  moral  themes  will  be 
to  use  a  wooden  dagger ;  but  the  great  truths  of  revelation  are 
as  sharp  swords.  Keep  to  doctrines  which  stir  the  conscience 
and  the  heart.  Remain  unwaveringly  the  champions  of  a  soul- 
winning  gospel.  God's  truth  is  adapted  to  man,  and  God's 
grace  adapts  man  to  it.  There  is  a  key  which,  under  God,  can 
wind  up  the  musical  box  of  man's  nature ;  get  it,  and  use  it 
daily.  Hence  I  urge  you  to  keep  to  the  old-fashioned  gospel, 
and  to  that  only,  for  assuredly  it  is  the  power  of  God  unto  sal- 
vation. 

Of  all  I  would  wish  to  say  this  is  the  sum ;  my  brethren, 
preach  Christ,  always  and  evermore.  He  is  the  whole  gospel. 
His  person,  offices,  and  work  must  be  our  one  great,  all-com- 
prehending theme.  The  world  needs  still  to  be  told  of  its 
Saviour,  and  the  way  to  reach  Him.  Justification  by  faith 
should  be  far  more  than  it  is  the  daily  testimony  of  Protestant 
pulpits  ;  and  if  with  this  master  truth  there  should  be  more 
generally  associated  the  other  great  doctrines  of  grace,  the  bet- 
ter for  our  churches  and  our  age.  If  with  the  zeal  of  Method- 
ists we  can  preach  the  doctrine  of  Puritans  a  great  future  is 
before  us.  The  fire  of  Wesley,  and  the  fuel  of  Whitefield,  will 
cause  a  burning  which  shall  set  the  forests  of  error  on  fire,  and 
warm  the  very  soul  of  this  cold  earth.  We  are  not  called  to 
proclaim  philosophy  and  metaphysics,  but  the  simple  gospel. 
Man's  fall,  his  need  of  a  new  birth,  forgiveness  through  an 


39§ 


SPURGEON 


atonement,  and  salvation  as  the  result  of  faith,  these  are  our 
battle-axe  and  weapons  of  war.  We  have  enough  to  do  to 
learn  and  teach  these  great  truths,  and  accursed  be  that  learn- 
ing which  shall  divert  us  from  our  mission,  or  that  wilful 
ignorance  which  shall  cripple  us  in  its  pursuit.  More  and 
more  am  I  jealous  lest  any  views  upon  prophecy,  church  gov- 
ernment, politics,  or  even  systematic  theology,  should  withdraw 
one  of  us  from  glorying  in  the  cross  of  Christ.  Salvation  is  a 
theme  for  which  I  would  fain  enlist  every  holy  tongue.  I  am 
greedy  after  witnesses  for  the  glorious  gospel  of  the  blessed 
God.  O  that  Christ  crucified  were  the  universal  burden  of  men 
of  God.  Your  guess  at  the  number  of  the  beast,  your  Napo- 
leonic speculations,  your  conjectures  concerning  a  personal 
Antichrist — forgive  me,  I  count  them  but  mere  bones  for  dogs ; 
while  men  are  dying,  and  hell  is  filling,  it  seems  to  me  the  ver- 
iest drivel  to  be  muttering  about  an  Armageddon  at  Sebastopol 
or  Sadowa  or  Sedan,  and  peeping  between  the  folded  leaves  of 
destiny  to  discover  the  fate  of  Germany.  Blessed  are  they  who 
read  and  hear  the  words  of  the  prophecy  of  the  Revelation,  but 
the  like  blessing  has  evidently  not  fallen  on  those  who  pretend 
to  expound  it,  for  generation  after  generation  of  them  have 
been  proved  to  be  in  error  by  the  mere  lapse  of  time,  and  the 
present  race  will  follow  to  the  same  inglorious  sepulchre.  I 
would  sooner  pluck  one  single  brand  from  the  burning  than  ex- 
plain all  mysteries.  To  win  a  soul  from  going  down  into  the 
pit  is  a  more  glorious  achievement  than  to  be  crowned  in  the 
arena  of  theological  controversy  as  Doctor  Sufficientissimus ;  to 
have  faithfully  unveiled  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus 
Christ  will  be  in  the  final  judgment  accounted  worthier  service 
than  to  have  solved  the  problems  of  the  religious  Sphinx,  or 
to  have  cut  the  Gordian  knot  of  apocalyptic  difficulty.  Blessed 
is  that  ministry  of  which  Christ  is  all. 


THE    FUTURE    OF    THE    BRITISH 

EMPIRE 


BY 


JOSEPH    CHAMBERLAIN 


JOSEPH   CHAMBERLAIN 

Joseph  Chamberlain  was  born  in  London  in  July,  1836.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  University  College,  and  in  early  life  became  a  member  of  a 
manufacturing  firm  in  Birmingham  which  his  father  had  founded  in 
1854.  He  retired  from  this  firm  early  in  the  seventies  with  independent 
means.  Mr.  Chamberlain  had  by  this  time  gained  a  considerable  local 
reputation  on  account  of  his  radical  opinions  and  a  fluency  of  speech  with 
which  he  expounded  his  views  in  public.  In  1868  he  had  been  appointed 
chairman  of  the  first  executive  committee  of  the  Education  League, 
and  in  this  capacity  he  conducted  a  movement  that  led  to  the  passing  of 
the  Elementary  Education  Act  in  1870.  In  1873  he  became  chairman 
of  the  Birmingham  school  board,  to  which  he  had  been  elected  three 
years  before.  The  transfer  to  the  city  authorities  of  the  gas  and  water 
works  was  largely  due  to  his  energy. 

During  this  time  Chamberlain,  a  liberal  in  politics,  became  widely 
known  as  an  advocate  of  ultra-radical  measures,  and  gained  great 
popularity  with  the  masses.  As  the  motto  for  his  party  he  would  have : 
Free  church,  free  land,  free  schools,  and  free  labor.  Elected  alderman 
in  1873,  he  was  three  times  in  succession  elected  mayor  of  Birming- 
ham. He  was  defeated  as  a  candidate  for  Parliament  from  Sheffield 
at  the  general  election  in  1874,  but  was  returned  unopposed  for  Bir- 
mingham two  years  later.  In  1880,  when  the  Liberals  returned  to  power. 
Chamberlain  was  nominated  President  of  the  Board  of  Trade  and 
admitted  to  a  seat  in  the  Cabinet.  His  influence  within  and  without 
Parliament  had  been  steadily  increasing  in  the  mean  time,  and  he  now 
came  to  be  regarded  as  the  leader  of  the  radical  wing  of  the  Liberal 
party. 

He  became  President  of  the  Local  Government  Board  after  the  elec- 
tion of  1886,  but  resigned  in  March  of  the  same  year,  owing  to  his  strong 
objection  to  Gladstone's  Home  Rule  Bill.  From  this  time  dates  the 
formation  of  the  Liberal-Unionist  party,  henceforth  closely  allied  with 
the  Conservatives,  of  which  Chamberlain  became  the  leader  in  the  House 
of  Commons.  Chamberlain's  hostile  attitude  to  Gladstone,  his  seces- 
sion from  his  old  party,  and  his  affiliation  with  the  Conservative  inter- 
ests brought  upon  him  much  unfavorable  criticism. 

When  the  Conservatives  returned  to  power  in  1895  Chamberlain  took 
the  portfolio  of  Colonial  Secretary.  The  so-called  Ashantee  War  was 
an  incident  of  his  first  year's  tenure  of  that  office.  He  effectually 
cleared  himself  before  a  Parliamentary  committee  of  any  implication 
imputed  to  him  in  the  Jameson  raid  in  1896.  His  management  of  the 
Transvaal  affair,  especially  the  manner  in  which  he  conducted  the  ne- 
gotiations that  led  to  the  war  with  the  two  South  African  republics,  is 
a  matter  of  contemporaneous  history.  He  was  elected  lord  rector  of 
Glasgow  University  in  1896. 


400 


THE   FUTURE  OF  THE   BRITISH    EMPIRE 

Delivered  at  a  dinner  given   to   celebrate  the  completion  of 
the  Natal  Railzvay,  London,  November  6,  1895* 

I  THANK  you  sincerely  for  the  hearty  reception  you  have 
given  to  this  toast.  I  appreciate  very  much  the  warmth 
of  your  welcome,  and  I  see  in  it  confirmation  of  the  evi- 
dence which  is  afforded  by  the  cordial  and  graceful  telegram 
from  the  premier  of  Natal,  which  has  been  read  by  your  chair- 
man, and  by  other  public  and  private  communications  that  I 
have  received,  that  any  man  who  makes  it  his  first  duty,  as  I 
did,  to  draw  closer  together  the  different  portions  of  the  British 
Empire  will  meet  with  hearty  sympathy,  encouragement,  and 
support.  I  thank  my  old  friend  and  colleague,  Sir  Charles  Tup- 
per,  for  the  kind  manner  in  which  he  has  spoken  of  me.  He  has 
said  much,  no  doubt,  that  transcends  my  merits,  but  that  is  a 
circumstance  so  unusual  in  the  life  of  a  politician  that  I  do  not 
feel  it  in  my  heart  to  complain.  I  remember  that  Dr.  Oliver 
Wendell  Holmes,  who  was  certainly  one  of  the  most  genial 
Americans  who  ever  visited  these  shores,  said  that  when  he 
was  young  he  liked  his  praise  in  teaspoonfuls,  that  when  he 
got  older  he  preferred  it  in  tablespoonfuls,  and  that  in  advanced 
years  he  was  content  to  receive  it  in  ladles.  I  confess  that  I  am 
arriving  at  the  period  when  I  sympathize  with  Dr.  Oliver  Wen- 
dell Holmes. 

Gentlemen,  the  occasion  which  has  brought  us  together  is 
an  extremely  interesting  one.  We  are  here  to  congratulate 
Natal,  its  government,  and  its  people,  and  to  congratulate  our- 
selves on  the  completion  of  a  great  work  of  commercial  enter- 
prise and  civilization,  which  one  of  our  colonies,  which  happens 

♦This  dinner  was  the  first  public  occa-  Chamberlain,  Secretary    of  State  for  the 

sion  on  which  Mr.  Chamberlain  appeared  Colonies,"    which    was    proposed    by    Sir 

in  his  official  capacity  as  Secretary  of  State  Charles    Tupper,   High   Commissioner  of 

for  the  Colonies.     His  speech  is  in  reply  to  Canada, 
the  toast   "  The  Right   Honorable  Joseph 

Vol.  II.— 26  401 


402  CHAMBERLAIN 

to  be  the  last  to  have  been  included  in  the  great  circle  of  self- 
governing  communities,  has  brought  to  a  successful  conclu- 
sion, giving  once  more  a  proof  of  the  vigor  and  the  resolution 
which  have  distinguished  all  nations  that  have  sprung  from 
the  parent  British  stock. 

This  occasion  has  been  honored  by  the  presence  of  the  rep- 
resentatives of  sister  colonies,  who  are  here  to  offer  words  of 
sympathy  and  encouragement ;  and,  in  view  of  the  representa- 
tive character  of  the  gathering,  I  think,  perhaps,  I  may  be  per- 
mitted, especially  as  this  is  the  first  occasion  upon  which  I  have 
publicly  appeared  in  my  capacity  as  Minister  for  the  Colonies, 
to  offer  a  few  words  of  a  general  application. 

I  think  it  will  not  be  disputed  that  we  are  approaching  a 
critical  state  in  the  history  of  the  relations  between  ourselves 
and  the  self-governing  colonies.  We  are  entering  upon  a  chap- 
ter of  our  colonial  history,  the  whole  of  which  will  probably  be 
written  in  the  next  few  years,  certainly  in  the  lifetime  of  the 
next  generation,  and  which  will  be  one  of  the  most  important 
in  our  colonial  annals,  since  upon  the  events  and  policy  which 
it  describes  will  depend  the  future  of  the  British  Empire.  That 
empire,  gentlemen,  that  world-wide  dominion  to  which  no  Eng- 
lishman can  allude  without  a  thrill  of  enthusiasm  and  patriot- 
ism, which  has  been  the  admiration  and  perhaps  the  envy  of 
foreign  nations,  hangs  together  by  a  thread  so  slender  that  it 
may  well  seem  that  even  a  breath  would  sever  it. 

There  have  been  periods  in  our  history,  not  so  very  far  dis- 
tant, when  leading  statesmen,  despairing  of  the  possibility  of 
maintaining  anything  in  the  nature  of  a  permanent  union,  have 
looked  forward  to  the  time  when  the  vigorous  communities  to 
which  they  rightly  entrusted  the  control  of  their  own  destinies 
would  grow  strong  and  independent,  would  assert  their  inde- 
pendence, and  would  claim  entire  separation  from  the  parent 
stem.  The  time  to  which  they  look  forward  has  arrived  sooner 
than  they  expected.  The  conditions  to  which  they  refer  have 
been  more  than  fulfilled ;  and  now  these  great  communities, 
which  have  within  them  every  element  of  national  life,  have 
taken  their  rank  amongst  the  nations  of  the  world  ;  and  I  do  not 
suppose  that  anyone  would  consider  the  idea  of  compelling 
them  to  remain  within  the  empire  as  within  the  region  of  in- 
telligent speculation.    Yet,  although,  as  I  have  said,  the  time 


THE   FUTURE   OF   THE   BRITISH    EMPIRE 


403 


has  come,  and  the  conditions  have  been  fulfilled,  the  results 
which  these  statesmen  anticipated  have  not  followed.  They 
felt,  perhaps,  overwhelmed  by  the  growing  burdens  of  the  vast 
dominions  of  the  British  Crown.  They  may  well  have  shrunk 
from  the  responsibilities  and  obligations  which  they  involved; 
and  so  it  happened  that  some  of  them  looked  forward  not  only 
without  alarm,  but  with  hopeful  expectation  to  a  severance  of 
the  union  which  now  exists. 

But  if  such  feelings  were  ever  entertained  they  are  enter- 
tained no  longer.  As  the  possibility  of  separation  has  become 
greater,  the  desire  for  separation  has  become  less.  While  we 
on  our  part  are  prepared  to  take  our  share  of  responsibility, 
and  to  do  all  that  may  fairly  be  expected  from  the  mother 
country,  and  while  we  should  look  upon  a  separation  as  the 
greatest  calamity  that  could  befall  us — our  fellow-subjects  on 
their  part  see  to  what  a  great  inheritance  they  have  come  by 
mere  virtue  of  their  citizenship;  and  they  must  feel  that  no 
separate  existence,  however  splendid,  could  compare  with  that 
which  they  enjoy  equally  with  ourselves  as  joint  heirs  of  all 
the  traditions  of  the  past,  and  as  joint  partakers  of  all  the  in- 
fluence, resources,  and  power  of  the  British  Empire. 

I  rejoice  at  the  change  that  has  taken  place.  I  rejoice  at  the 
wider  patriotism,  no  longer  confined  to  this  small  island,  which 
embraces  the  whole  of  Greater  Britain  and  which  has  carried 
to  every  clime  British  institutions  and  the  best  characteristics 
of  the  British  race.  How  could  it  be  otherwise?  We  have  a 
common  origin,  we  have  a  common  history,  a  common  lan- 
guage, a  common  literature,  and  a  common  love  of  liberty  and 
law.  We  have  common  principles  to  assert,  we  have  common 
interests  to  maintain.  I  said  it  was  a  slender  thread  that  binds 
us  together.  I  remember  on  one  occasion  having  been  shown  a 
wire  so  fine  and  delicate  that  a  blow  might  break  it ;  yet  I  was 
told  that  it  was  capable  of  transmitting  an  electrical  energy 
that  would  set  powerful  machinery  in  motion.  May  it  not  be 
the  same  with  the  relations  which  exist  between  the  colonies 
and  ourselves;  and  may  not  that  thread  of  union  be  capable 
of  carrying  a  force  of  sentiment  and  of  sympathy  which  will 
yet  be  a  potent  factor  in  the  history  of  the  world  ? 

There  is  a  word  which  I  am  almost  afraid  to  mention,  lest 
at  the  very  outset  of  my  career  I  should  lose  my  character  as 


4o4  CHAMBERLAIN 

a  practical  statesman.  I  am  told  on  every  hand  that  imperial 
federation  is  a  vain  and  empty  dream.  I  will  not  contest  that 
judgment,  but  I  will  say  this:  "That  man  must  be  blind 
indeed  who  does  not  see  that  it  is  a  dream  which  has  vividly 
impressed  itself  on  the  mind  of  the  English-speaking  race,  and 
who  does  not  admit  that  dreams  of  that  kind,  which  have  so 
powerful  an  influence  upon  the  imagination  of  men,  have  some- 
how or  another  an  unaccountable  way  of  being  realized  in  their 
own  time."  If  it  be  a  dream,  it  is  a  dream  that  appeals  to  the 
highest  sentiments  of  patriotism,  as  well  as  to  our  material 
interests.  It  is  a  dream  which  is  calculated  to  stimulate  and  to 
inspire  everyone  who  cares  for  the  future  of  the  Anglo-Saxon 
people.  I  think  myself  that  the  spirit  of  the  time  is,  at  all 
events,  in  the  direction  of  such  a  movement.  How  far  it  will 
carry  us  no  man  can  tell,  but,  believe  me,  upon  the  temper  and 
the  tone  in  which  we  approached  the  solution  of  the  problems 
which  are  now  coming  upon  us  depend  the  security  and  the 
maintenance  of  that  world-wide  dominion,  that  edifice  of  im- 
perial rule  which  has  been  so  ably  built  for  us  by  those  who 
have  gone  before. 

Gentlemen,  I  admit  that  I  have  strayed  somewhat  widely 
from  the  toast  which  your  chairman  has  committed  to  my 
charge.  The  toast  is  "  The  Prosperity  of  South  Africa  and  the 
Natal  and  Transvaal  Railway."  As  to  South  Africa,  there  can 
be  no  doubt  as  to  its  prosperity.  We  have  witnessed  in  our  own 
time  a  development  of  natural  and  mineral  wealth  in  that 
country  altogether  beyond  precedent  or  human  knowledge  ;  and 
what  we  have  seen  in  the  past,  and  what  we  see  in  the  present, 
is  bound  to  be  far  surpassed  in  the  near  future.  The  product  of 
the  mines,  great  as  it  is  at  present,  is  certain  to  be  multiplied 
many  fold,  and  before  many  years  are  over  the  mines  of  the 
Transvaal  may  be  rivalled  by  the  mines  of  Mashonaland  or 
Matabeleland ;  and  in  the  train  of  this  great,  exceptional,  and 
wonderful  prosperity,  in  the  train  of  the  diamond-digger  and  of 
the  miner,  will  come  a  demand  for  labor  which  no  man  can 
measure — a  demand  for  all  the  products  of  agriculture  and 
of  manufacture,  in  which  not  South  Africa  alone,  but  all  the 
colonies  and  the  mother-country  itself  must  have  a  share. 

The  climate  and  soil  leave  nothing  to  be  desired,  and  there  is 
only  one  thing  wanted — that  is,  a  complete  union  and  identity 


THE    FUTURE   OF   THE   BRITISH   EMPIRE 


405 


of  sentiment  and  interest  between  the  different  States  existing 
in  South  Africa.  Gentlemen,  I  have  no  doubt  that  that  union 
will  be  forthcoming — although  it  may  not  be  immediately  es- 
tablished. I  do  not  shut  my  eyes  to  differences  amongst  friends 
which  have  unfortunately  already  arisen  and  which  have  not 
yet  been  arranged.  I  think  these  differences,  if  you  look  below 
the  surface,  will  be  found  to  be  due  principally  to  the  fact  that 
we  have  not  yet  achieved  in  South  Africa  that  local  federation 
which  is  the  necessary  preface  to  any  serious  consideration  of 
the  question  of  imperial  federation.  But,  gentlemen,  in  these 
differences,  my  position,  of  course,  renders  it  absolutely  neces- 
sary that  I  should  take  no  side.  I  pronounce  no  opinion,  and  it 
would  not  become  me  to  offer  any  advice  ;  although,  if  the  good 
offices  of  my  department  were  at  any  time  invoked  by  those 
who  are  now  separated,  all  I  can  say  is  that  they  would  be 
heartily  placed  at  their  service. 

Gentlemen,  I  wish  success  to  the  Natal  Railway,  and  to  every 
railway  in  South  Africa.  There  is  room  for  all.  There  is  pros- 
perity for  all — enough  to  make  the  mouth  of  an  English 
director  positively  water.  There  is  success  for  all,  if  only  they 
will  not  waste  their  resources  in  internecine  conflict.  I  have 
seen  with  pleasure  that  a  conference  is  being  held  in  order  to 
discuss,  and  I  hope  to  settle,  these  differences.  I  trust  that  they 
may  be  satisfactorily  arranged.  In  the  mean  time  I  congratulate 
our  chairman,  as  representing  this  prosperous  colony,  upon  the 
enterprise  they  have  displayed,  upon  the  difficulties  they  have 
surmounted,  and  on  the  success  they  have  already  achieved. 
And  I  hope  for  them — confidently  hope — the  fullest  share  in 
that  prosperity  which  I  predict  without  hesitation  for  the  whole 
of  South  Africa. 


ORATION  ON  ROBERT  BURNS 

BY 

LORD    ROSEBERY 

(Archibald  Philip  Primrose) 


ARCHIBALD  PHILIP  PRIMROSE,  LORD  ROSEBERY 

Archibald  Philip  Primrose,  Earl  of  Rosebery,  was  born  in  London 
May  7,  1847,  and  succeeded  to  the  title  on  the  death  of  his  grandfather 
in  1868.  He  was  educated  at  Eton  and  at  Christ  Church,  Oxford. 
He  made  his  first  speech  in  Parliament  in  1870,  when  Gladstone  se- 
lected him  to  second  the  address  to  the  speech  from  the  throne.  The 
first  ten  years  of  his  public  career  are  devoid  of  any  notable  incidents, 
though  he  took  during  all  this  time  an  active  interest  in  the  movements 
for  social  and  educational  reforms.  He  was  elected  Lord  Rector  of  the 
University  of  Aberdeen  in  1880.  Lord  Rosebery' s  public  career  as  a 
Liberal  statesman  begins  with  his  appointment  as  Under-Secretary  of 
State  for  the  Home  Department  in  August,  1881.  He  became  First 
Commissioner  of  Works  in  November,  1884.  In  Gladstone's  next  ad- 
ministration Rosebery  was  assigned  the  important  post  of  Secretary 
of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs  and  won  general  approval  for  the  tact  and 
skill  he  displayed  in  settling  the  difficulties  growing  out  of  the  Servo- 
Bulgarian  war  and  the  Greek  claims  for  territorial  indemnity. 

Lord  Rosebery  remained  a  firm  supporter  of  his  chief  when  Glad- 
stone brought  forward  his  first  Home  Rule  for  Ireland  Bill,  when  many 
political  followers  deserted  their  chief  and  the  Liberal  party.  On  Glad- 
stone's return  to  power  Lord  Rosebery  was  appointed  Foreign  Min- 
ister a  second  time,  and  on  the  former's  retirement  from  public  life  he 
was  offered  the  Premiership  by  the  Queen.  The  passing  by  of  some 
of  the  older  leaders  of  the  Liberal  party  caused  for  a  time  a  good  deal 
of  dissatisfaction  and  lack  of  support  in  the  party.  Rosebery  was 
obliged  to  work  with  a  small  majority  and  had  the  misfortune  to  fol- 
low a  leader  of  such  great  prestige  as  Mr.  Gladstone.  The  Liberal 
majority  gradually  dwindled  down  and  Lord  Rosebery  placed  his  resig- 
nation in  the  hands  of  the  Queen. 

Lord  Rosebery  has  long  been  and  remains  one  of  the  most  popular 
of  the  public  men  of  England.  He  is  a  man  of  broad  views  and  is 
ever  interested  in  movements  to  promote  the  betterment  of  the  condition 
of  the  laboring  classes.  As  a  public  speaker  he  is  in  great  demand  and 
his  public  utterances  are  always  received  with  consideration  and  respect. 
He  is  the  author  of  the  well-known  monograph  on  the  younger  Pitt  and 
a  recognized  authority  on  Robert  Burns.  His  oration  on  the  Scotch 
poet  is  given  here. 


408 


ORATION   ON    ROBERT   BURNS 

Delivered  before  the  tomb  of  Robert  Burns,  at  Dumfries,  Scot- 
land, July  21,  1896. 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN :  I  come  here  as  a  loyal 
burgess  of  Dumfries,  to  do  honor  to  the  greatest  bur- 
gess of  Dumfries.  You,  Mr.  Provost,  have  laid  upon 
me  a  great  distinction  but  a  great  burden.  Your  most  illus- 
trious burgess  obtained  privileges  for  his  children  in  re- 
spect of  his  burgess-ship,  but  you  impose  on  your  youngest 
burgess  an  honor  that  might  well  break  anybody's  back — that 
of  attempting  to  do  justice  in  any  shape  or  fashion  to  the  hero 
of  to-day's  ceremony.  But  we  citizens  of  Dumfries  have  a  spe- 
cial claim  to  be  considered  on  this  day.  We  are  surrounded 
by  the  choicest  and  the  most  sacred  haunts  of  the  poet.  You 
have  in  this  town  the  house  in  which  he  died,  the  "Globe  " 
where  we  could  have  wished  that  some  phonograph  had  then 
existed  which  could  have  communicated  to  us  some  of  his  wise 
and  witty  and  wayward  talk.  You  have  the  street  commem- 
orated in  M'Culloch's  tragic  anecdote  when  Burns  was 
shunned  by  his  former  friends,  and  you  have  the  paths  by  the 
Nith  which  are  associated  with  some  of  his  greatest  work.  You 
have  near  you  the  room  in  which  the  whistle  was  contended  for, 
and  in  which,  if  mere  legend  is  to  be  trusted,  the  immortal  Dr. 
Gregory  was  summoned  to  administer  his  first  powders  to  the 
survivors  of  that  memorable  debauch.  You  have  the  stack- 
yard in  which,  lying  on  his  back  and  contemplating — 

"  Thou  lingering  star,  with  lessening  ray, 
That  Iov'st  to  greet  the  early  morn," 

he  wrote  the  lines  "  To  Mary  in  Heaven  " — perhaps  the  most 
pathetic  of  his  poems.  You  have  near  you  the  walk  to  the 
river,  where,  in  this  transport,  he  passed  his  wife  and  children 

409 


4io  LORD    ROSEBERY 

without  seeing  them,  "  his  brow  flushed  and  his  eyes  shining  " 
with  the  lustre  of  "  Tam  o'  Shanter."  "  I  wish  you  had  but 
seen  him,"  said  his  wife ;  "  he  was  in  such  ecstasy  that  the 
tears  were  happing  down  his  cheeks."  That  is  why  we  are 
in  Dumfries  to-day.  We  come  to  honor  Burns  among  these 
immortal  haunts  of  his. 

But  it  is  not  to  Dumfries  alone  that  he  is  commemorated 
to-day ;  for  all  Scotland  will  pay  her  tribute.  And  this,  surely, 
is  but  right.  Mankind  owes  him  a  general  debt.  But  the  debt 
of  Scotland  is  special.  For  Burns  exalted  our  race,  he  hal- 
lowed Scotland  and  the  Scottish  tongue.  Before  his  time  we 
had  for  a  long  period  been  scarcely  recognized ;  we  had  been 
falling  out  of  the  recollection  of  the  world.  From  the  time  of 
the  union  of  the  crowns,  and  still  more  from  the  time  of  the 
legislative  union,  Scotland  had  lapsed  into  obscurity.  Except 
for  an  occasional  riot  or  a  Jacobite  rising,  her  existence  was 
almost  forgotten.  She  had,  indeed,  her  Robertsons  and  her 
Humes  writing  history  to  general  admiration,  but  no  trace  of 
Scottish  authorship  was  discoverable  in  their  works ;  indeed, 
every  flavor  of  national  idiom  was  carefully  excluded.  The 
Scottish  dialect,  as  Burns  called  it,  was  in  danger  of  perishing. 
Burns  seemed  at  this  juncture  to  start  to  his  feet  and  reassert 
Scotland's  claim  to  national  existence ;  his  Scottish  notes  rang 
through  the  world,  and  he  thus  preserved  the  Scottish  language 
forever ;  for  mankind  will  never  allow  to  die  that  idiom  in 
which  his  songs  and  poems  are  enshrined.  That  is  a  part  of 
Scotland's  debt  to  Burns. 

But  this  is  much  more  than  a  Scottish  demonstration ;  it  is  a 
collection  of  representatives  from  all  quarters  of  the  globe  to 
own  a  common  allegiance  and  a  common  faith.  It  is  not  only 
Scotsmen  honoring  the  greatest  of  Scotsmen — we  stretch  far 
beyond  a  kingdom  or  a  race — we  are  rather  a  sort  of  poetical 
Mohammedans  gathered  at  a  sort  of  poetical  Mecca. 

And  yet  we  are  assembled  in  our  high  enthusiasm  under  cir- 
cumstances which  are  somewhat  paradoxical.  For  with  all  the 
appearance  of  joy,  we  celebrate  not  a  festival,  but  a  tragedy. 
It  is  not  the  sunrise  but  the  sunset  that  we  commemorate.  It 
is  not  the  birth  of  a  new  power  into  the  world,  the  subtle  germ 
of  a  fame  that  is  to  survive  and  inspire  the  generations  of  men ; 
but  it  is  perhaps  more  fitting  that  we  celebrate  the  end  and  not 


ORATION   ON   ROBERT   BURNS  4n 

the  beginning.  For  the  coming  of  these  figures  is  silent ;  it  is 
their  disappearance  that  we  know.  At  this  instant  that  I  speak 
there  may  be  born  into  the  world  the  equal  of  a  Newton  or  a 
Caesar,  but  half  of  us  would  be  dead  before  he  had  revealed  him- 
self. Their  death  is  different.  It  may  be  gloomy  and  disas- 
trous ;  it  may  come  at  a  moment  of  shame  or  neglect ;  but  by 
that  time  the  man  has  carved  his  name  somewhere  on  the  tem- 
ple of  fame.  There  are  exceptions,  of  course ;  cases  where  the 
end  comes  before  the  slightest,  or  any  but  the  slightest,  recog- 
nition— Chatterton  choking  in  his  garret,  hunger  of  body  and 
soul  all  unsatisfied;  Millet  selling  his  pictures  for  a  song;  nay, 
Shakespeare  himself.  But,  as  a  rule,  death  in  the  case  of  genius 
closes  the  first  act  of  a  public  drama;  criticism  and  analysis  may 
then  begin  their  unbiassed  work  free  from  jealousy  or  friend- 
ship or  personal  consideration  for  the  living.  Then  comes  the 
third  act,  if  third  act  there  be. 

No,  it  is  a  death,  not  a  birth,  that  we  celebrate.  This  day  a 
century  ago,  in  poverty,  delirium,  and  distress,  there  was  passing 
the  soul  of  Robert  Burns.  To  him  death  comes  in  clouds  and 
darkness,  the  end  of  a  long  agony  of  body  and  soul ;  he  is  har- 
assed with  debt,  his  bodily  constitution  is  ruined,  his  spirit  is 
broken,  his  wife  is  daily  expecting  her  confinement.  He  has 
lost  almost  all  that  rendered  his  life  happy — much  of  friendship, 
credit,  and  esteem.  Some  score  years  before,  one  of  the  most 
charming  of  English  writers,  as  he  lay  dying,  was  asked  if  his 
mind  was  at  ease,  and  with  his  last  breath  Oliver  Goldsmith 
owned  that  it  was  not.  So  it  was  with  Robert  Burns.  His 
delirium  dwelt  on  the  horrors  of  a  jail ;  he  uttered  curses  on  the 
tradesman  who  was  pursuing  him  for  debt.  "  What  business," 
said  he  to  his  physician  in  a  moment  of  consciousness,  "  what 
business  has  a  physician  to  waste  his  time  upon  me?  I  am  a 
poor  pigeon  not  worth  plucking.  Alas !  I  have  not  feathers 
enough  to  carry  me  to  my  grave."  For  a  year  or  more  his 
health  had  been  failing.  He  had  a  poet's  body  as  well  as  a 
poet's  mind ;  nervous,  feverish,  impressionable ;  and  his  consti- 
tution, which,  if  nursed  and  regulated,  might  have  carried  him 
to  the  limit  of  life,  was  unequal  to  the  storm  and  stress  of  dissi- 
pation and  a  preying  mind.  In  the  previous  autumn  he  had 
been  seized  with  a  rheumatic  attack ;  his  digestion  had  given 
way ;  he  was  sunk  in  melancholy  and  gloom.     In  his  last  April 


4i2  LORD    ROSEBERY 

he  wrote  to  his  friend  Thomson,  "  By  Babel's  streams  I've  sate 
and  wept  almost  ever  since  I  saw  you  last ;  I  have  only  known 
existence  by  the  pressure  of  the  heavy  hand  of  sickness,  and 
have  counted  time  by  the  repercussions  of  pain.  Rheumatism, 
cold,  and  fever  have  formed  to  me  a  terrible  combination.  I 
close  my  eyes  in  misery,  and  open  them  without  hope."  It 
was  sought  to  revive  him  by  sea-bathing,  and  he  went  to  stay  at 
Brow-well.  There  he  remained  three  weeks,  but  was  under 
no  delusion  as  to  his  state. 

"  Well,  madam,"  he  said  to  Mrs.  Riddell  on  arriving,  "  have 
you  any  commands  for  the  other  world  ?"  He  sat  that  evening 
with  his  old  friend,  and  spoke  manfully  of  his  approaching 
death,  of  the  fate  of  his  children,  and  his  fame ;  sometimes  in- 
dulging in  bitter-sweet  pleasantry,  but  never  losing  the  con- 
sciousness of  his  condition.  In  three  weeks  he  wearied  of  the 
fruitless  hunt  for  health,  and  he  returned  home  to  die.  He 
was  only  just  in  time.  When  he  re-entered  his  home  on  the 
eighteenth  he  could  no  longer  stand ;  he  was  soon  delirious ; 
in  three  days  he  was  dead.  "  On  the  fourth  day,"  we  are  told, 
"  when  his  attendant  held  a  cordial  to  his  lips,  he  swallowed  it 
eagerly,  rose  almost  wholly  up,  spread  out  his  hands,  sprang 
forward  nigh  the  whole  length  of  the  bed,  fell  on  his  face,  and 
expired." 

I  suppose  there  are  many  who  can  read  the  account  of 
these  last  months  with  composure.  They  are  more  fortunate 
than  I.  There  is  nothing  much  more  melancholy  in  all  biog- 
raphy. The  brilliant  poet,  the  delight  of  all  society,  from  the 
highest  to  the  lowest,  sits  brooding  in  silence  over  the  drama 
of  his  spent  life ;  the  early  innocent  home,  the  plough  and  the 
savor  of  fresh-turned  earth,  the  silent  communion  with  nature 
and  his  own  heart,  the  brief  hour  of  splendor,  the  dark 
hour  of  neglect,  the  mad  struggle  for  forgetfulness,  the  bitter- 
ness of  vanished  homage,  the  gnawing  doubt  of  fame,  the  dis- 
tressful future  of  his  wife  and  children — an  endless  witch-dance 
of  thought  without  clew  or  remedy,  all  perplexing,  all  soon  to 
end  while  he  is  yet  young,  as  men  reckon  youth  ;  though  none 
know  so  well  as  he  that  his  youth  is  gone,  his  race  is  run,  his 
message  delivered. 

His  death  revived  the  flagging  interest  and  pride  that  had 
been  felt  for  him.     As  usual,  men  began  to  realize  what  they 


ORATION    ON    ROBERT    BURNS 


413 


had  lost  when  it  was  too  late.  When  it  was  known  that  he  was 
dying  the  townspeople  had  shown  anxiety  and  distress.  They 
recalled  his  fame  and  forgot  his  fall.  One  man  was  heard  to 
ask,  with  a  touch  of  quaint  simplicity,  "  Who  do  you  think  will 
be  our  poet  now  ?  "  The  district  set  itself  to  prepare  a  public 
funeral  for  the  poet  who  died  penniless  among  them.  A  vast 
concourse  followed  him  to  his  grave.  The  awkward  squad,  as 
he  had  foreseen  and  deprecated,  fired  volleys  over  his  coffin. 
The  streets  were  lined  with  soldiers,  among  them  one  who, 
within  sixteen  years,  was  to  be  Prime  Minister.  And  while  the 
procession  wended  its  gloomy  way  as  if  no  element  of  tragedy 
were  to  be  wanting,  his  widow's  hour  of  travail  arrived  and  she 
gave  birth  to  the  hapless  child  that  had  caused  the  father  so 
much  misgiving.  In  this  place  and  on  this  day  it  all  seems 
present  to  us — the  house  of  anguish,  the  thronged  churchyard, 
the  weeping  neighbors.  We  feel  ourselves  part  of  the  mourn- 
ing crowd.  We  hear  those  dropping  volleys  and  that  muffled 
drum  ;  we  bow  our  heads  as  the  coffin  passes,  and  acknowledge 
with  tears  the  inevitable  doom.  Pass,  heavy  hearse,  with  thy 
weary  freight  of  shattered  hopes  and  exhausted  frame ;  pass, 
with  thy  simple  pomp  of  fatherless  brains  and  sad  moralizing 
friends  ;  pass,  with  the  sting  of  death  to  the  victory  of  the  grave  ; 
pass,  with  the  perishable,  and  leave  us  the  eternal. 

It  is  rare  to  be  fortunate  in  life ;  it  is  infinitely  rarer  to  be  for- 
tunate in  death.  "  Happy  in  the  occasion  of  his  death,"  as 
Tacitus  said  of  Agricola,  is  not  a  common  epitaph.  It  is  com- 
paratively easy  to  know  how  to  live,  but  it  is  beyond  all  option 
and  choice  to  compass  the  more  difficult  art  of  knowing  when 
and  how  to  die.  We  can  generally,  by  looking  back,  choose  a 
moment  in  a  man's  life  when  he  had  been  fortunate  had  he 
dropped  down  dead.  And  so  the  question  arises  naturally  to- 
day, Was  Burns  fortunate  in  his  death — that  death  which  we 
commemorate  ?  There  can,  I  fancy,  be  only  one  answer ;  it  was 
well  that  he  died  when  he  did ;  it  might  even  been  better  for 
himself  had  he  died  a  little  earlier.  The  terrible  letters  that  he 
wrote  two  years  before  to  Mrs.  Riddell  and  Mr.  Cunningham 
betoken  a  spirit  mortally  wounded.  In  those  last  two  years 
the  cloud  settles,  never  to  be  lifted.  "  My  constitution  and 
frame  were  ab  originc  blasted  with  a  deep  incurable  taint  of  hy- 
pochondria which  poisons  my  existence."     He  found  perhaps 


4I4  LORD    ROSEBERY 

some  pleasure  in  the  composition  of  his  songs,  some  occasional 
relief  in  the  society  of  boon  companions;  but  the  world  was 
fading  before  him. 

There  is  an  awful  expression  in  Scotland  which  one  never 
hears  without  a  pang,  "  So-and-so  is  done,"  meaning  that  he  is 
physically  worn  out.  Burns  was  "  done."  He  was  struggling 
on  like  a  wounded  deer  to  his  death.  He  had  often  faced  the 
end,  and  not  unwillingly.  "  Can  it  be  possible,"  he  once  wrote 
to  Mrs.  Dunlop,  "  that  when  I  resign  this  frail,  feverish  being 
I  shall  still  find  myself  in  conscious  existence  ?  When  the  last 
gasp  of  agony  has  announced  that  I  am  no  more  to  those  who 
know  me  and  the  few  who  love  me  ;  when  the  cold,  unconscious 
corse  is  resigned  to  the  earth  to  be  the  prey  of  reptiles  and 
become  a  trodden  clod,  shall  I  be  yet  warm  in  life,  enjoying  or 
enjoyed  ?  "  Surely  that  reads  as  if  he  foresaw  this  day  and 
would  fain  be  with  us — as  indeed  he  may  be.  Twelve  years 
before  he  had  faced  death  in  a  less  morbid  spirit : 

"  Why  [he  asked]  am  I  loath  to  leave  this  earthly  scene  ? 
Have  I  so  found  it  full  of  pleasing  charms  ? 
Some  days  of  joy,  with  draughts  of  ill  between, 
Some  gleams  of  sunshine,  'mid  renewing  storms." 

He  had,  perhaps,  never  enjoyed  life  so  much  as  is  supposed, 
though  he  had  turned  to  it  a  brave,  cheerful,  unflinching  face, 
and  the  last  years  had  been  years  of  misery.  "  God  have  mercy 
on  me,"  he  wrote  years  before  the  end,  "  a  poor  damned,  incau- 
tious, duped,  unfortunate  fool !  The  sport,  the  miserable  vic- 
tim of  rebellious  pride,  hypochondriac  imagination,  agonizing 
sensibility,  and  bedlam  passions."  There  was  truth  in  this  out- 
burst. At  any  rate,  his  most  devoted  friends — and  to  be  an  ad- 
mirer of  Burns  is  to  be  his  friend — may  wish  that  he  had  not 
lived  to  write  the  letter  to  Mr.  Clark,  piteously  pleading  that  a 
harmless  toast  may  not  be  visited  hardly  upon  him ;  or  that  to 
Mrs.  Riddell,  beginning — "  I  write  you  from  the  regions  of 
hell  and  the  horrors  of  the  damned  " ;  or  to  be  harried  by  his 
official  superiors  as  a  political  suspect ;  shunned  by  his  fashion- 
able friends  for  the  same  reason ;  wandering  like  a  neglected 
ghost  in  Dumfries,  avoided  and  ignored.  '  That's  all  over 
now,  my  young  friend,"  he  said,  speaking  of  his  reign  in  soci- 
ety, "  and  werena  my  heart  licht  I  wad  dee."     All  this  was  in 


ORATION   ON    ROBERT   BURNS  415 

1794.  Had  he  died  before  then,  it  might  have  been  happier 
for  himself,  and  we  should  have  lost  some  parts  of  his  life 
which  we  would  rather  forget;  but  posterity  could  not  have 
spared  him ;  we  could  not  have  lost  the  exquisite  songs  which 
we  owe  to  those  years ;  but,  above  all,  the  supreme  creed  and 
comfort  which  he  bequeathed  to  the  world — 

"  A  man's  a  man  for  a'  that," 

would  have  remained  undelivered. 

One  may,  perhaps,  go  further  and  say  that  poets — or  those 
whom  the  gods  love — should  die  young.  This  is  a  hard  saying, 
but  it  will  not  greatly  affect  the  bills  of  mortality.  And  it  ap- 
plies only  to  poets  of  the  first  rank ;  while  even  here  it  has  its 
exceptions,  and  illustrious  exceptions  they  are.  But  surely 
the  best  poetry  is  produced  before  middle  age,  before  the  morn- 
ing and  its  illusions  have  faded,  before  the  heaviness  of  noon 
and  the  baleful  cool  of  evening.  Few  men,  too,  can  bear  the 
strain  of  a  poet's  temperament  through  many  years.  At  any 
rate,  we  may  feel  sure  of  this,  that  Burns  had  produced  his  best, 
that  he  would  never  again  have  produced  a  "  Tarn  o'  Shanter," 
or  a  "  Cottar's  Saturday  Night,"  or  a  "  Jolly  Beggars  " ;  and 
that  long  before  his  death,  though  he  could  still  write  lines  afflu- 
ent with  tenderness  and  grace,  "  the  hand  of  pain  and  sorrow 
and  care,"  to  use  his  own  words,  "  had  lain  heavy  upon  "  him. 

And  this  leads  to  another  point.  To-day  is  not  merely  the 
melancholy  anniversary  of  death,  but  the  rich  and  incompara- 
ble fulfilment  of  prophecy.  For  this  is  the  moment  to  which 
Burns  looked  when  he  said  to  his  wife,  "  Don't  be  afraid ;  I'll 
be  more  respected  a  hundred  years  after  I  am  dead  than  I  am 
at  present !  "  To-day  the  hundred  years  are  completed,  and  we 
can  judge  of  the  prediction.  On  that  point  we  must  all  be 
unanimous.  Burns  had  honor  in  his  lifetime,  but  his  fame  has 
rolled  like  a  snowball  since  his  death,  and  it  rolls  on.  There 
is,  indeed,  no  parallel  to  it  in  the  world ;  it  sets  the  calculations 
of  compound  interest  at  defiance.  He  is  not  merely  the  watch- 
word of  a  nation  that  carries  and  implants  Burns-worship  all 
over  the  globe  as  birds  carry  seeds,  but  he  has  become  the 
champion  and  patron  saint  of  democracy.  He  bears  the  ban- 
ner of  the  essential  equality  of  man.  His  birthday  is  celebrated 
— 137  years  after  its  occurrence — more  universally  than  that 


416 


LORD    ROSEBERY 


of  any  human  being.  He  reigns  over  a  greater  dominion  than 
any  empire  that  the  world  has  ever  seen.  Nor  does  the  ardor  of 
his  devotees  decrease.  Ayr  and  Ellisland,  Mauchline  and 
Dumfries,  are  the  shrines  of  countless  pilgrims.  Burns  statues 
are  a  hardy  annual.  The  production  of  Burns  manuscripts 
was  a  lucrative  branch  of  industry  until  it  was  checked  by  un- 
timely intervention.  The  editions  of  Burns  are  as  the  sands 
of  the  sea.  No  canonized  name  in  the  calendar  excites  so 
blind  and  enthusiastic  a  worship.  Whatever  Burns  may  have 
contemplated  in  his  prediction,  whatever  dream  he  may  have 
fondled  in  the  wildest  moments  of  elation,  must  have  fallen 
utterly  short  of  the  reality.  And  it  is  all  spontaneous.  There 
is  no  puff,  no  advertisement,  no  manipulation.  Intellectual 
cosmetics  of  that  kind  are  frail  and  fugitive ;  they  rarely  survive 
their  subject ;  they  would  not  have  availed  here.  Not  was 
there  any  glamour  attached  to  the  poet ;  rather  the  reverse.  He 
has  stood  by  himself ;  he  has  grown  by  himself.  It  is  himself 
and  no  other  that  we  honor. 

But  what  had  Burns  in  his  mind  when  he  made  this  predic- 
tion? It  might  be  whimsically  urged  that  he  was  conscious 
that  the  world  had  not  yet  seen  his  masterpiece,  for  the  "  Jolly 
Beggars  "  was  not  published  till  some  time  after  his  death. 
But  that  would  not  be  sufficient,  for  he  had  probably  forgotten 
its  existence.  Nor  do  I  think  he  spoke  at  haphazard.  What 
were  perhaps  present  to  his  mind  were  the  fickleness  of  his 
contemporaries  towards  him,  his  conviction  of  the  essential 
splendor  of  his  work,  the  consciousness  that  the  incidents 
of  his  later  years  had  unjustly  obscured  him,  and  that  his  true 
figure  would  be  perceived  as  these  fell  away  into  forgetfulness 
or  were  measured  at  their  true  value.  If  so,  he  was  right  in  his 
judgment,  for  his  true  life  began  with  his  death ;  with  the  body 
passed  all  that  was  gross  and  impure;  the  clear  spirit  stood 
revealed,  and  soared  at  once  to  its  accepted  place  among  the 
fixed  stars,  in  the  firmament  of  the  rare  immortals. 


THE  DESERTION  OF  GENERAL  GORDON 


BY 


LORD    CHURCHILL 

(Randolph  Henry  Spencer  Churchill) 


RANDOLPH    HENRY    SPENCER    CHURCHILL, 
LORD   CHURCHILL 

1849— 1895 

Randolph  Henry  Spencer  Churchill,  Lord  Churchill,  was  the  second 
son  of  the  sixth  Duke  of  Marlborough,  and  was  born  February  13,  1849. 
He  was  educated  at  Merton's  College,  Oxford.  In  1874  Churchill  was 
returned  to  Parliament  for  Woodstock,  which  seat  he  held  till  1885. 
The  same  year  he  married  a  daughter  of  Leonard  Jerome,  of  New  York. 

Little  was  heard  of  Lord  Churchill  during  the  first  years  of  his  par- 
liamentary career.  From  1880  onward  he  became  conspicuous  both  in 
the  House  of  Commons  and  on  public  platforms  for  the  violence  with 
which  he  attacked  the  Liberal  party.  He  was,  for  some  time  during 
this  period,  the  leader  of  the  so-called  fourth  party,  consisting  of  a 
coterie  of  ultra-conservative  members  in  the  House. 

On  the  accession  of  the  Conservatives  to  power  in  1885  he  filled  the 
office  of  Secretary  of  State  for  India,  where  his  short  tenure  of  office 
was  marked  by  the  annexation  of  Upper  Burmah.  It  was  during  this 
time  that  Churchill's  career  gave  the  brightest  promise  for  the  future. 
He  was  beginning  to  be  regarded  as  the  Tory  leader,  and  it  was  com- 
monly said  that  the  mantle  of  Lord  Beaconsfield  had  fallen  on  the  young, 
able  and  untiring  chief  of  the  Tory  democracy. 

After  the  defeat  of  the  Conservatives  in  1885  and  their  return  to  power 
after  six  months,  in  the  same  year,  Lord  Churchill  filled  the  office  of 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  and  became  leader  of  his  party  in  the  House 
of  Commons.  His  resignation  in  the  same  year  was  a  surprise  to  both 
his  political  followers  as  well  as  his  opponents;  but  it  is  not  unlikely  that 
ill-health,  brought  on  by  over-exertion,  was  responsible  for  this  step. 
In  a  letter  conveying  his  resignation  he  wrote  to  Lord  Salisbury  that 
he  was  resolved  to  sacrifice  himself  on  the  altar  of  thrift  and  economy. 
His  attacks  on  the  disbursing  departments  of  the  government  were 
henceforth  sharp  and  incisive,  but  he  spoke  and  voted  steadfastly  on 
the  side  of  the  Conservatives.  His  speech  on  the  "  Desertion  of  Gen- 
eral Gordon  "  made  a  great  sensation  at  the  time  of  its  delivery.  Lord 
Churchill  died  in  1895. 


418 


THE   DESERTION   OF  GENERAL  GORDON 

Delivered  in  the  House  of  Commons,  May  13,  1884 

I  DO  not  think  that  it  is  necessary  to  debate  this  question 
with  any  great  amount  of  heat,  or  with  set  oratorical 
phrases,  or  with  great  warmth  of  invective  or  vitupera- 
tion. The  question  itself  is  as  simple  a  question  as  ever  pre- 
sented itself  to  Parliament.  The  motion  before  the  House  is 
couched  in  terms  of  extreme  moderation.  The  Prime  Minis- 
ter said  that  it  was  not  a  manly  or  courageous  motion  ;  I  doubt 
whether  the  Prime  Minister  or  any  one  of  his  colleagues  is  a 
judge  of  what  is  manly  or  courageous.  Those  adjectives  rep- 
resent qualities  in  which  Her  Majesty's  Government  have 
proved  themselves  conspicuously  deficient.  But  I  think  that  it 
was  a  strange  criticism  on  the  part  of  the  Prime  Minister. 
What  is  the  motion  of  the  right  honorable  baronet?  It  is  a 
motion  expressing  regret  that  the  efforts  of  General  Gordon 
have  not  been  properly  seconded  by  the  acts  of  the  Government 
at  home,  and  expressing  a  determination  to  provide  now  for  the 
safety  of  General  Gordon.  I  myself  can  see  nothing  unmanly  or 
wanting  in  courage  in  such  a  motion  as  that;  but  I  am  bound  to 
say  that  I  can  see  a  great  deal  that  is  wanting  in  courage  in  the 
Prime  Minister's  speech  last  night.  I  wonder  whether  the 
Prime  Minister  recollects  an  incident  which  took  place  in  1830. 
The  right  honorable  gentleman  would  have  been  about  twenty 
years  of  age,  and  I  have  no  doubt  was  well  acquainted  with  the 
political  incidents  of  that  day.  The  Duke  of  Wellington  made 
a  speech  on  the  subject  of  parliamentary  reform.  When  he  sat 
down  there  were  buzzings  and  whisperings  and  evident  con- 
sternation on  his  own  side ;  so  much  so  that  the  Duke  asked 
what  was  the  cause  of  it,  and  the  reply  was,  "  Your  Grace  has 
announced  the  fall  of  your  Government,  that  is  all."  If  the 
Prime  Minister  had  had  the  advantage  of  occupying  the  posi- 

419 


420  LORD   CHURCHILL 

tion  which  I  occupy,  and  had  been  able  to  see  the  deepening 
gloom  which  settled  down  on  his  followers  as  he  proceeded  with 
his  remarks,  and  the  blank  dismay  that  overspread  their  faces, 
and  if  he  had  heard  the  buzzings  and  whisperings  and  conster- 
nation in  the  lobby,  and  had  asked  the  noble  lord,  the  member 
for  Flintshire,  what  was  the  cause  of  it,  if  the  noble  lord,  the 
member  for  Flintshire,  was  an  intelligent  and  able  noble  lord, 
he  would  have  replied,  "  Sir,  you  have  annnounced  the  fall  of 
your  Government." 

What  was  that  speech?  It  was  an  announcement  in  the 
most  solemn  manner  on  the  part  of  Her  Majesty's  Government, 
by  their  chief  representative,  of  the  final  and  definite  abandon- 
ment of  General  Gordon.  Of  that  there  can  be  absolutely  no 
doubt  whatever  in  the  mind  of  anyone  who  listened  to  him  or 
who  has  read  the  report  of  his  speech.  That  speech  reminded 
me  of  the  conduct  of  a  Roman  governor  of  eighteen  hundred 
years  ago,  who  washed  his  hands  in  the  face  of  the  multitude. 
That  speech  announced  in  the  most  open  and  unmistakable 
manner  the  abandonment  of  General  Gordon.  This  is  a  course 
which  I  am  certain  the  country  is  not  prepared  to  ratify,  and 
which  I  think  Parliament  is  not  prepared  to  adopt. 

What  was  the  mission  of  General  Gordon?  What  was  its 
nature?  The  mission,  to  my  mind,  was  in  theory  and  in- 
tention one  of  the  noblest  ever  undertaken.  The  object  of  the 
mission  was  twofold.  It  was  to  rescue  the  garrisons  in  the 
Soudan,  numbering  something  like  30,000,  exclusive  of  women 
and  children,  and  it  was  to  restore  freedom  and  tranquillity  to 
harassed  and  oppressed  tribes.  The  whole  nation  acquiesced 
in  that  mission,  as,  I  believe,  it  acquiesced  in  the  abandonment 
of  the  Soudan.  I  do  not  think  it  could  be  asserted  for  one  mo- 
ment that  any  person  on  the  Opposition  side  of  the  House  has 
ever  advocated  the  re-conquest  of  the  Soudan,  and  I  may  say 
that  I  have  never  heard  anybody  who  is  responsible  on  this  side 
of  the  House  censure  the  abandonment  of  the  Soudan.  But,  al- 
though the  nation  and  the  Opposition  acquiesced  in  the  aban- 
donment of  the  Soudan,  the  nation  felt  deeply  the  solemn  and 
high  duties  which  that  abandonment  imposed  upon  them,  and 
the  nation  hailed  with  pleasure,  and  I  may  almost  say  with  rap- 
ture, the  mission  of  General  Gordon,  and  was  prepared  to  con- 
done many  an  error  because  the  Government  had  entrusted 


THE   DESERTION    OF   GENERAL   GORDON  42i 

those  duties  to  be  discharged  by  so  generous,  so  gallant,  and  so 
noble  an  officer  as  General  Gordon.  I  do  not  believe  that  any 
mission  which  ever  left  this  country  had  ever  created  so  much 
interest;  but  the  very  intensity  of  the  interest  excited  is  the 
measure  of  the  responsibility  imposed  upon  the  Government 
to  do  their  part  in  assisting  General  Gordon  to  carry  his 
dangerous  mission  to  a  successful  conclusion.  The  Prime 
Minister  said  last  night  that  the  Government  had  dis- 
charged their  responsibility  to  the  utmost.  I  take  leave  to 
traverse  the  right  honorable  gentleman's  statement,  and  say 
that  the  Government  have  not  discharged  one  bit  of  that 
responsibility.  I  assert  that,  as  it  was  the  duty  of  the  Gov- 
ernment to  have  seconded  to  the  very  utmost  the  mis- 
sion of  General  Gordon,  they  ought,  at  the  outset,  to  have 
considerably  increased  their  force  in  Egypt,  and  to  have  moved 
British  troops  up  the  Nile.  The  first  appearance  of  General 
Gordon  in  Upper  Egypt  prevented  disturbances.  He  found  a 
state  of  semi-order,  and  he  pacified  it  completely.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  that  if  it  had  been  known  that  the  British  force  had 
been  increased,  and  that  British  troops  had  been  moved  up 
the  Nile,  the  first  effect  of  the  mission,  instead  of  being  tran- 
sient, would  have  been  permanent.  More  than  that,  the  season 
was  exceptionally  favorable  for  the  movement  of  troops,  and 
that  movement  would  have  been  perfectly  consistent  with  the 
pacific  character  of  the  mission  of  General  Gordon.  Material 
support  is  not  out  of  character  with  a  mission  which  is  essen- 
tially pacific ;  and  if  any  supporter  or  member  of  the  Govern- 
ment should  deny  that  assertion,  I  have  only  to  point  to  the 
conduct  of  the  Government  with  respect  to  Suakin  completely 
to  make  out  my  case.  The  conduct  of  the  Government  in  that 
case  was  to  give  material  support  to  the  efforts  to  restore  order 
in  that  part  of  the  Soudan — and  why  should  material  support 
have  been  limited  to  Suakin  ?  I  submit  that  that  was  the  first 
failure  of  the  Government  to  recognize  their  responsibility  to 
General  Gordon.  Then  the  Government  had  another  warning. 
Soon  after  General  Gordon  arrived  at  Khartoum  he  made  an 
urgent  appeal  to  the  Government  to  send  him  Zebehr  Pacha. 
I  have  never  been  one  of  those  who  have  been  disposed  to  blame 
the  Government  for  not  acceding  to  that  request.  I  think  not 
only  that  Zebehr  is  a  man  with  whom  no  British  Government 


422  LORD   CHURCHILL 

ought  to  have  any  connection,  but  I  believe  that  he  would  have 
done  his  best  to  assassinate  General  Gordon  when  he  got  to 
Khartoum.  But  the  Prime  Minister,  curiously  enough,  told 
the  House  last  night  that  he  thought  General  Gordon  was  right 
in  asking  for  Zebehr,  and  said  he  had  been  disposed  to  go  al- 
most any  length  to  meet  the  request,  and  gave  an  extraordinary 
reason  for  not  doing  what  he  said  was  right,  and  what  he  was 
prepared  to  go  almost  any  length  to  do.  He  said,  "  I  did  not 
do  what  I  thought  I  should  do,  because  I  feared  I  might  be 
placed  in  a  minority." 

[Mr.  Gladstone:  The  noble  lord  has  represented  what  I  said  with 
perfect  inaccuracy.  I  did  not  say  that  I  should  in  any  case  have  sent 
Zebehr,  but  I  said  that,  whereas  the  arguments  for  sending  Zebehr 
might  have  been  very  nearly  balanced,  and,  in  the  minds  of  some, 
might  have  preponderated,  the  one  argument  that  was  conclusive  against 
it  was  not  that  the  Government  would  have  been  placed  in  a  minority, 
but  that  the  sending  of  Zebehr  would  have  been  stopped  by  a  vote  in 
the  House  of  Commons.] 

Lord  Churchill :  That  is  exactly  the  same  thing.  If  the 
Prime  Minister  had  come  down  to  the  House  and  proposed 
to  send  Zebehr,  and  a  vote  had  been  taken  against  him,  does 
anyone  think  that  he  would  have  retained  office?  It  would 
have  been  a  vote  of  censure  on  the  Government.  My  conten- 
tion, therefore  was  right.  I  feel  that  that  is  a  fair  construc- 
tion to  put  upon  the  words  of  the  Prime  Minister.  It  is  in 
accordance  with  former  acts  of  the  right  honorable  gentleman, 
because  I  recollect  that  he  once  said  he  did  not  restore  order 
in  Ireland  when  he  might  have  done  so,  because  he  was 
not  certain  whether  at  that  time  he  should  have  obtained 
a  majority  of  the  House  of  Commons.  But  what  I  wonder 
at  is,  that  the  Government,  knowing  the  character  of  Gen- 
eral Gordon,  his  love  of  the  Soudanese,  and  his  low  opinion 
of  this  abandoned  ruffian  Zebehr,  and  seeing  that  General  Gor- 
don had  made  an  appeal  for  him  to  be  sent  to  his  assistance,  did 
not  have  their  eyes  opened  to  the  fact  that  General  Gordon's  po- 
sition at  Khartoum  had  become  untenable,  that  his  mission  was 
far  more  desperate  than  had  been  imagined,  and  that  his  posi- 
tion was  one  of  imminent  peril.  I  wonder,  and  shall  wonder 
forever,  that  the  Government  at  that  time  did  not  take  meas- 


THE   DESERTION   OF   GENERAL   GORDON  423 

ures  to  provide  for  the  safety  of  General  Gordon — to  increase 
the  British  forces  at  Cairo,  and  to  move  British  troops  up  the 
Nile.  It  was  on  February  27th  that  the  Government  refused 
to  allow  Zebehr  to  go  to  Khartoum,  and  certainly  at  that  time 
a  movement  of  troops  might  have  been  carried  on  without  the 
slightest  risk.  That  is  the  second  conspicuous,  undeniable  fail- 
ure of  the  Government  to  provide  for  the  relief  of  General  Gor- 
don. The  Prime  Minister  taunted  the  Opposition  because 
they  cheered  him  when  he  announced  the  expedition  to  Suakin. 
We  cheered  that  announcement,  not  because  we  were  in  love 
with  the  dangers  of  the  expedition,  and  not  because  we  did  not 
see  them,  but  because  it  occurred  to  us  that  the  dangers  were 
far  outweighed  by  the  advantages  which  would  obviously  re- 
sult from  the  expedition.  The  object  of  that  expedition  was 
threefold.  It  was  to  preserve  the  safety  of  the  ports  of  the 
Red  Sea,  to  relieve  Tokar,  and  to  open  up  a  route  to  Berber. 
On  those  grounds  alone  did  we  cheer  the  announcement  of  the 
Government;  but  when  we  found,  to  our  disgust  and  dismay, 
that  not  one  of  those  objects  had  been  in  any  part  obtained,  we 
lost  no  time  in  condemning  the  expedition  to  Suakin,  and  sup- 
porting the  motion  of  the  honorable  member  for  Northampton. 
That  was  a  clear  and  consistent  course  of  conduct.  General 
Gordon  was  not  in  favor  of  that  expedition ;  but  I  can  quite 
understand  that,  under  the  circumstances  in  which  he  was 
placed,  he  would  not  like  to  put  an  absolute  negative  upon  it. 
General  Gordon,  however,  did  not  imagine  that  the  Govern- 
ment would  have  allowed  the  troops  to  fight  two  bloody  and 
unprovoked  battles,  and  then  sail  away  without  having  effected 
anything. 

Let  me  compare  the  Government's  treatment  of  Suakin  with 
their  treatment  of  General  Gordon.  What  is  Suakin?  Suakin 
is  a  dirty,  wretched,  plague-stricken  port  on  the  Red  Sea,  of 
no  value  to  Egypt,  or  to  anyone  but  the  Soudanese  tribes. 
What  is  General  Gordon?  The  Prime  Minister  told  us  last 
night  that  General  Gordon  is  "  a  great  personality  "  ;  more  than 
that,  he  is  the  envoy  of  the  Queen ;  more  than  that,  Gordon's 
life  is  invaluable  to  his  country,  because  a  nation  does  not  turn 
out  Gordons  by  the  dozen  every  clay.  The  Prime  Minister  was 
angry  with  the  right  honorable  gentleman  last  night  because 
he  said  that  the  Government  ought  to  have  given  material  sup- 


424  LORD   CHURCHILL 

port  to  General  Gordon.  But  why  was  it  wrong  to  do  that  for 
General  Gordon,  a  great  personality,  the  envoy  of  the  Queen, 
a  man  invaluable  to  his  country,  which  you  did  so  lavishly  and 
so  uselessly  for  this  dirty  port  on  the  Red  Sea?  For  this  port 
the  Government  shed  blood  in  torrents,  they  poured  out  money 
like  water ;  but  for  Gordon  they  refused  to  advance  one  British 
soldier  one  single  step,  or  to  provide  him  with  one  single  half- 
penny of  money.  In  comparing  the  treatment  of  Suakin  by  the 
Government  with  the  treatment  of  General  Gordon,  the  logic 
of  facts  is  hopelessly  fatal  to  their  position.  As  I  listened  to 
the  Prime  Minister  last  night  a  curious  idea  came  into  my  head. 
I  thought  of  the  singularly  different — the  inexplicably  different 
— manner  in  which  different  individuals  appeal  to  his  sympa- 
thies. I  compared  his  efforts  in  the  cause  of  General  Gordon 
with  his  efforts  in  the  cause  of  Mr.  Bradlaugh.  I  remem- 
bered the  courage,  the  perseverance,  the  eloquence,  he  dis- 
played and  the  amount  of  time  of  the  House  of  Commons  which 
was  consumed  by  the  Government  in  their  desperate  adherence 
to  that  man.  If  the  hundredth  part  of  those  invaluable  moral 
qualities  bestowed  upon  Mr.  Bradlaugh  had  been  given  to  the 
support  of  a  Christian  hero,  the  success  of  General  Gordon's 
mission  would  have  been  at  this  time  assured.  And  this  struck 
me  as  most  remarkable  when  the  Prime  Minister  sat  down — 
that  the  finest  speech  he  ever  delivered  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons was  in  support  of  Mr.  Bradlaugh,  and  the  worst  speech 
he  ever  delivered,  was,  by  common  consent,  in  the  cause  of  the 
Christian  hero.  That  is  an  instructive  historical  contrast. 
The  Prime  Minister  made  a  most  extraordinary  remark  last 
night  which  reveals  the  incapacity  of  the  present  Government 
for  dealing  with  those  difficult  commotions  abroad.  He  said, 
in  reply  to  the  right  honorable  gentleman  who  questioned  the 
wisdom  of  the  Government  in  not  sending  troops  to  Berber, 
"What  would  be  the  use  of  sending  a  few  British  troops?" 
Well,  for  fifty  years  the  Prime  Minister  has  been  more  or  less 
in  the  service  of  the  Crown,  and  has  been  identified  with  some 
of  the  most  glorious  exploits  of  British  valor,  and  after  all  that 
experience  he  gets  up  and  asks  the  House  of  Commons  what 
would  be  the  value  of  a  few  hundred  British  soldiers  ?  Surely, 
when  he  asked  this  question  he  must  have  been  thinking,  not 
of  the  early  and  military  glories  with  which  he  was  connected, 


THE  DESERTION  OF  GENERAL  GORDON     425 

but  of  the  unfortunate  events  of  Laing's  Nek  and  Majuba  Hill. 
For  my  part,  I  think  the  value  of  a  few  hundred  soldiers  at  Ber- 
ber would  have  been  great.  They  would  in  the  first  place  have 
opened  up  the  road  across  the  desert.  Their  very  passing 
across  the  desert  would  have  produced  an  effect ;  it  would  have 
confirmed  the  wavering,  given  hope  to  the  fugitives,  and  saved 
the  garrisons.  It  would  have  been  very  apparent  to  every- 
one in  that  part  of  the  world  that  those  British  troops  were 
merely  the  precursors  of  others,  and  it  would  have  prevented 
the  present  isolation  of  General  Gordon.  The  troops  were 
ready  and  anxious  to  go ;  General  Graham  was  anxious  to  go. 
I  do  not  know  whether  the  Prime  Minister  is  aware  of  it,  be- 
cause in  his  exalted  position  he  may  be  denied  the  knowledge 
open  to  humbler  men — but  the  feeling  of  the  troops  coming 
away  from  Suakin  was  one  of  utter  and  intense  disgust.  Be- 
cause those  brave  men,  who  whenever  they  perform  deeds  of 
fame  are  exposed  to  the  jeers  and  jibes  of  honorable  gentlemen 
opposite — these  brave  men  were  filled  with  the  conviction  that 
all  their  bravery  had  gone  for  nothing,  and,  more  than  that, 
that  they  had  slaughtered  brave  and  gallant  foes  for  no  purpose 
whatever.  The  whole  of  that  force  was  only  too  anxious,  too 
desirous,  by  opening  up  the  road  to  Berber,  to  place  something 
tangible  on  record  as  the  result  of  their  exertions.  The  Prime 
Minister  argued  in  a  most  extraordinary  manner  that  he  and  his 
colleagues  had  no  longer  any  duties  to  perform  toward  the 
Soudan  garrison.  He  sent  General  Gordon  to  get  the  garri- 
sons out ;  General  Gordon  had  failed ;  and,  really,  he  and  his 
colleagues  cannot  any  further  be  bothered  with  the  matter. 
That  was  the  whole  drift  of  his  speech,  because  the  House  no- 
ticed how  he  descended  upon  the  right  honorable  baronet,  and 
asked  which  garrisons  were  to  be  rescued — that  of  Gondola, 
Bahr  Gazelle,  or  what  others  ?  Your  duty  is  to  recognize  the 
claims  of  every  one  of  them.  They  were  recognized  by  a  unani- 
mous House  of  Commons  when  General  Gordon  was  sent  out. 
I  adhere  to  that  assertion.  It  was  the  duty  of  General  Gordon 
to  rescue  them  when  you  sent  him  out,  and  the  duty  of  rescuing 
them  lies  heavily  upon  this  country,  that  placed  them  in  peril  by 
abandoning  the  Soudan.  At  any  rate,  there  is  one  duty,  and 
that  is  the  duty  of  England  to  support  her  envoy.  The  position 
of  an  envoy  is  sacred  not  so  much  to  the  country  to  which  he  is 


426  LORD   CHURCHILL 

sent,  because  that  may  be  an  uncivilized  country,  but  sacred  to 
the  country  which  sends  him  out,  and  essentially  sacred  when 
that  envoy  is  placed  in  a  position  of  peril  in  a  distant  land.  The 
fear  to  go  to  war  in  support  of  an  envoy  is  a  certain  indication 
of  a  decaying  empire,  and  the  abandonment  of  an  envoy  by 
a  British  Government,  with  the  sanction  of  a  British  Parlia- 
ment, is  the  sure  sign  of  a  falling  state. 

The  right  honorable  gentleman  says  that  in  October  he 
would  consider  this  question  again — a  very  reasonable  allow- 
ance of  time  to  procure  the  information  of  which  the  Govern- 
ment stands  in  need ;  and  he  imagines  that  by  October,  having 
obtained  that  information,  the  Government  will  be  able  to  de- 
vote their  attention  to  the  rescue  of  General  Gordon.  Does 
he  think  that  England  will  wait  till  October  to  hear  what  he  is 
going  to  do  ?  If  so,  how  low  an  estimate  must  the  Prime  Min- 
ister have  formed  of  the  countrymen  who  so  long  have  wor- 
shipped and  put  their  trust  in  him !  Such  is  their  reward  for 
the  devotion  of  many  years  !  If  the  Prime  Minister  thinks  that 
the  British  people  will  wait  till  the  month  of  October,  does  he 
think  that  the  Mahdi  will  wait  till  then  ?  Because,  whatever 
may  be  the  qualities  of  the  British  people,  the  Mahdi  has  shown 
qualities  which  will  enable  us  to  calculate  the  rate  of  his  ad- 
vance. Does  not  the  right  honorable  gentleman  propose  to 
take  any  steps  to  guard  the  inhabitants  of  Lower  Egypt  against 
the  incursion  of  the  Mahdi  until  the  time  when  he  says  climatic 
influences  will  not  endanger  the  health  of  the  troops?  If  the 
right  honorable  gentleman  does  not  propose  to  take  any  steps 
for  that  purpose,  I  cannot  believe  that  the  decision  of  the  Gov- 
ernment will  be  indorsed  by  the  House  of  Commons.  Very 
little  would  be  necessary  now  to  arrest  the  Madhi — a  slight 
movement  of  troops,  a  slight  movement  of  ships,  a  little  more 
energy,  a  little  more  common-sense,  a  little  more  consistency 
in  your  foreign  despatches,  and  the  thing  would  be  done.  But 
now  the  Prime  Minister  is  going  to  meet  the  powers  of  Europe 
in  conference.  He  is  going  to  meet  after  this  debate — if  he 
survives  it — he  is  going  to  meet  in  conference  on  the  Egyptian 
question  powers  represented  by  standing  armies  numbering 
millions  of  men.  I  like  conferences,  and  advocate  them  under 
certain  conditions.  But  I  will  illustrate  my  meaning.  Com- 
pare the  position  which  Lord  Beaconsfield  occupied  at  the  Con- 


THE   DESERTION    OF   GENERAL   GORDON  42? 

gress  of  Berlin  with  the  position  which  the  Prime  Minister  will 
occupy  at  the  conference  which  is  now  to  take  place.  The  one, 
by  a  mere  movement  of  the  fleet,  and  by  movement  of  troops, 
had  arrested  the  advance  of  the  Russian  army  at  the  very 
threshold  of  the  goal  to  which  for  a  century  they  had  been  ap- 
proaching; the  other  appears  before  the  conference  as  having 
been  afraid,  and  as  having  stated  his  fear  in  this  House,  to  ar- 
rest the  march  of  a  barbarian  and  to  rescue  an  English  envoy. 
I  should  like  to  know  whether  the  Government  can  appear  on 
terms  of  equality  with  the  other  powers  in  such  circumstances 
as  these.  The  Government  go  to  the  conference  having  done 
a  dishonorable  act.  The  conference  will  not  be  so  much  a 
conference  for  the  consideration  of  European  affairs,  of  powers 
meeting  on  terms  of  equality,  as  a  tribunal  called  together  to 
pronounce  judgment  on  the  crimes  of  a  delinquent  and  recreant 
nation.  The  Government  denounce  the  motives  of  those  who 
bring  forward  this  vote  of  censure,  and  say  that  it  is  dictated 
not  by  a  love  of  country,  but  by  a  spirit  of  party.  The  Prime 
Minister  has  had  fifty  years  of  parliamentary  experience,  and 
I  ask  him  to  tell  us,  from  motives  of  intelligent  curiosity, 
whether  he  ever  knew  a  vote  of  censure  which  had  not  for  its 
object  and  for  its  end  a  transference  of  power,  and,  if  that  is  the 
general  character  of  a  vote  of  censure,  why  is  the  particular 
vote  of  censure  which  has  been  moved  by  the  right  honorable 
gentleman  on  the  front  Opposition  bench  so  vile?  The  right 
honorable  gentleman  says  that  the  Opposition  is  ambitious  and 
unjust.  I  should  like  to  know,  when  the  Prime  Minister  con- 
ducted in  1877  that  agitation  which  electrified  the  country, 
whether  he  was  not  ambitious  and  whether  he  was  not  unjust? 
Were  not  these  adjectives  applicable  to  him  when  he  boasted  at 
Oxford  that  for  a  considerable  time  he  had  rested  neither  night 
nor  day  in  his  endeavors  to  thwart  the  policy  of  the  Government 
of  that  time?  What  does  this  transference  of  power  mean 
which  the  Prime  Minister  says  is  so  mischievous  and  perni- 
cious? So  far  as  I  can  make  out,  it  means  the  immediate  res- 
cue of  Gordon,  as  opposed  to  the  autumnal  and  uncertain  res- 
cue of  Gordon  in  six  months'  time ;  it  means  the  restoration 
of  order  in  Egypt,  as  opposed  to  the  continuance  of  anarchy ; 
it  means  the  repulse  of  the  Mahdi,  as  opposed  to  a  general 
Mahommedan  rising;   it  means,  I  believe,  taking  Egypt  under 


428  LORD   CHURCHILL 

English  protection,  and  extending  the  might  of  Britain  over 
that  disturbed  land  for  a  time.  That  is  what  I  believe  the  trans- 
ference of  power  means  in  regard  to  Egypt.  May  I  ask  what 
it  means  at  home  ?  For  the  Whigs  it  means  a  cessation  of  vot- 
ing day  after  day  that  black  is  white.  What  does  it  mean  to 
the  Radical  party?  It  means  that,  after  abandoning  for  four 
years  every  principle  on  which  they  came  into  power,  they 
will  at  length  be  able  to  reconcile  their  principles  with  their 
votes.  But  we  are  told  that  there  must  not  be  a  transference  of 
power  because  it  is  necessary  to  pass  the  reform  bill.  Well, 
reform  is  no  longer  a  party  question,  and  a  treatment  of  the 
question  by  the  Opposition  proves  that  it  would  be  dealt  with 
by  than  on  a  more  complete  and  larger  basis.  The  object  of 
this  vote  of  censure  is  a  transference  of  power,  and  the  sooner 
that  comes  the  better  for  the  country.  The  Government,  when 
they  went  to  Egypt,  abandoned  every  atom  of  principle  which 
they  possessed,  and  Egypt  has  been  their  Nemesis,  and  I  be- 
lieve will  be  their  ruin.  But  the  whole  question  is  at  last, 
thank  God,  presented  to  us  in  an  intelligible  form:  Will  you 
or  will  you  not  rescue  Gordon  now?  Answer,  "  Ay  "  or  "  No." 
The  people  of  England  and  Scotland  and  of  Ireland  also  say 
"  Ay."  The  Prime  Minister  and  a  few  Radical  fanatics  alone 
say  "  No  " ;  but,  great  as  is  the  Prime  Minister's  power,  long 
as  has  been  his  career,  dazzling  as  is  his  eloquence,  and  un- 
doubtedly glorious  as  is  his  name,  on  a  question  such  as  this 
the  odds  are  so  overwhelmingly  great  that  even  the  Prime 
Minister  himself  must  either  submit  or  resign. 


THE    GREATEST    THING    IN    THE 

WORLD 


BY 


HENRY    DRUMMOND 


HENRY   DRUMMOND 
1851— 1897 

Henry  Drummond  was  especially  the  product  of  an  era  in  which  the 
most  extreme  doctrines  of  scientific  agnosticism  had  become  popularized, 
and  by  being  popularized  had  often  been  misunderstood  to  a  degree 
that  was  in  danger  of  destroying  faith  in  Christianity,  if  not  in  all  re- 
ligious theories,  commonly  so  called.  He  was  born  in  Stirling,  Scot- 
land, in  18.51,,  and  was  educated  for  the  ministry,  taking  university 
courses  at  Edinburgh  and  Tubingen,  and  subsequently  passing  through 
the  Free  Church  Divinity  Hall.  On  his  ordination  to  the  ministry,  his 
mind  was  widened  during  his  incumbency  of  a  Presbyterian  mission  in 
the  island  of  Malta.  He  became  lecturer  and  afterwards  Professor  of 
Biology  in  the  Free  Church  College  at  Glasgow,  in  1878,  and  subse- 
quently travelled  through  the  United  States,  Africa,  and  Australia,  lect- 
uring on  the  sociological,  scientific,  and  moral  aspects  of  Christian  re- 
ligion. His  religious  enthusiasm  and  charming  personality  made  many 
friends  and  admirers,  and  his  influence  among  young  and  earnest  men 
was  remarkable. 

His  study  of  biology  had  naturally  made  him  fully  acquainted  with 
the  theories  of  Darwin  and  Huxley,  and  his  wish  to  reconcile  evolution 
with  a  notion  of  psychology  that  would  not  militate  against  the  assump- 
tions of  Christianity  prompted  his  work,  "  Natural  Law  in  the  Spiritual 
World,"  which,  while  it  did  not  meet  with  the  assent  of  the  scientific 
world,  was  undoubtedly  of  much  use  in  strengthening  in  their  religious 
belief  many  of  the  readers  to  whom  the  volume  was  addressed.  The 
popularity  of  this  treatise  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  it  has  been  trans- 
lated, after  passing  through  many  English  editions,  into  French,  Ger- 
man, Dutch,  and  Norwegian.  There  can,  however,  be  no  doubt  that 
Drummond  was  on  much  safer  ground  when  he  produced  his  inimitable 
treatise,  "  The  Greatest  Thing  in  the  World."  This  work  is  a  most 
acute  and  practical  enlargement  of  St.  Paul's  celebrated  chapter  on 
charity,  or  rather  love.  Clearness  and  simplicity  of  style,  glowing  de- 
votion, and  a  certain  strain  of  intense  enthusiasm,  which  sometimes 
rises  into  eloquence,  characterize  this  essay  or  address,  which  appeals 
to  mankind  at  large,  without  distinction  of  nationality,  intellectual  pre- 
possession, or  religious  sect.  It  is  a  work  which  must  be  accepted 
without  challenge  as  a  clear  and  vivid  expression  of  humanitarian  sen- 
timent, perfectly  in  harmony  with  the  highest  Christian  idealism. 

Drummond  had  early  associated  himself  with  the  evangelists,  Moody 
and  Sankey,  who  induced  him  to  accompany  them  from  time  to  time  on 
their  preaching  circuits.  While  he  lectured  on  strictly  scientific  sub- 
jects during  the  week,  he  addressed  large  audiences,  principally  of  work- 
ingmen,  on  Sundays,  when  he  dealt  with  themes  undoubtedly  nearer 
to  his  heart.  One  fruit  of  his  travels  was  his  volume  "  Tropical  Africa," 
but  he  returned  to  his  religio-scientific  line  of  thought  in  his  "  Ascent 
of  Man."  His  last  work  was  "  Pax  Vobiscum."  He  died  in  1897,  in  his 
forty-sixth  year,  of  consumption.  His  early  death,  due  doubtless,  in 
some  measure,  to  his  indefatigable  labors,  was  deeply  deplored  through 
the  length  and  breadth  of  Christendom. 


430 


THE   GREATEST  THING   IN   THE   WORLD 

EVERYONE  has  asked  himself  the  great  question  of  an- 
tiquity as  of  the  modern  world :  What  is  the  summum 
bonum — the  supreme  good?  You  have  life  before  you. 
Once  only  you  can  live  it.  What  is  the  noblest  object  of  desire, 
the  supreme  gift  to  covet? 

We  have  been  accustomed  to  be  told  that  the  greatest  thing 
in  the  religious  world  is  faith.  That  great  word  has  been  the 
keynote  for  centuries  of  the  popular  religion ;  and  we  have 
easily  learned  to  look  upon  it  as  the  greatest  thing  in  the  world. 
Well,  we  are  wrong.  If  we  have  been  told  that,  we  may  miss 
the  mark.  I  have  taken  you,  in  the  chapter  which  I  have  just 
read,  to  Christianity  at  its  source ;  and  there  we  have  seen,  "  The 
greatest  of  these  is  love."  It  is  not  an  oversight.  Paul  was 
speaking  of  faith  just  a  moment  before.  He  says,  "  If  I  have 
all  faith,  so  that  I  can  remove  mountains,  and  have  not  love, 
I  am  nothing."  So  far  from  forgetting,  he  deliberately  con- 
trasts them,  "  Now  abideth  faith,  hope,  love,"  and  without  a 
moment's  hesitation  the  decision  falls,  "  The  greatest  of  these 
is  love." 

And  it  is  not  prejudice.  A  man  is  apt  to  recommend  to  others 
his  own  strong  point.  Love  was  not  Paul's  strong  point.  The 
observing  student  can  detect  a  beautiful  tenderness  growing 
and  ripening  all  through  his  character  as  Paul  gets  old ;  but 
the  hand  that  wrote,  "  The  greatest  of  these  is  love,"  when  we 
meet  it  first,  is  stained  with  blood. 

Nor  is  this  letter  to  the  Corinthians  peculiar  in  singling  out 
love  as  the  summum  bonum.  The  masterpieces  of  Christianity 
are  agreed  about  it.  Peter  says,  "  Above  all  things  have  fervent 
love  among  yourselves."  Above  all  things.  And  John  goes 
further,  "  God  is  love."  And  you  remember  the  profound  re- 
mark which  Paul  makes  elsewhere,  "  Love  is  the  fulfilling  of 
the  law."     Did  you  ever  think  what  he  meant  by  that?     In 

43i 


43* 


DRUMMOND 


those  days  men  were  working  their  passage  to  heaven  by  keep- 
ing the  Ten  Commandments,  and  the  hundred  and  ten  other 
commandments  which  they  had  manufactured  out  of  them. 
Christ  said,  I  will  show  you  a  more  simple  way.  If  you  do  one 
thing,  you  will  do  these  hundred  and  ten  things,  without  ever 
thinking  about  them.  If  you  love,  you  will  unconsciously  ful- 
fil the  whole  law.  And  you  can  readily  see  for  yourselves  how 
that  must  be  so.  Take  any  of  the  commandments.  "  Thou 
shalt  have  no  other  gods  before  Me."  If  a  man  love  God,  you 
will  not  require  to  tell  him  that.  Love  is  the  fulfilling  of  that 
law.  "  Take  not  His  name  in  vain."  Would  he  ever  dream  of 
taking  His  name  in  vain  if  he  loved  Him?  "Remember  the 
Sabbath  day  to  keep  it  holy."  Would  he  not  be  too  glad  to  have 
one  day  in  seven  to  dedicate  more  exclusively  to  the  object  of 
his  affection  ?  Love  would  fulfil  all  these  laws  regarding  God. 
And  so,  if  he  loved  man,  you  would  never  think  of  telling  him 
to  honor  his  father  and  mother.  He  could  not  do  anything  else. 
It  would  be  preposterous  to  tell  him  not  to  kill.  You  could  only 
insult  him  if  you  suggested  that  he  should  not  steal — how  could 
he  steal  from  those  he  loved  ?  It  would  be  superfluous  to  beg 
him  not  to  bear  false  witness  against  his  neighbor.  If  he  loved 
him  it  would  be  the  last  thing  he  would  do.  And  you  would 
never  dream  of  urging  him  not  to  covet  what  his  neighbors  had. 
He  would  rather  they  possessed  it  than  himself.  In  this  way 
"  Love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law." 

It  is  the  rule  for  fulfilling  all  rules,  the  new  commandment 
for  keeping  all  the  old  commandments,  Christ's  one  secret  of 
the  Christian  life. 

Now  Paul  had  learned  that ;  and  in  this  noble  eulogy  he  has 
given  us  the  most  wonderful  and  original  account  extant  of 
the  summum  bonum.  We  may  divide  it  into  three  parts.  In 
the  beginning  of  the  short  chapter,  we  have  love  constrasted ; 
in  the  heart  of  it  we  have  love  analyzed ;  towards  the  end,  we 
have  love  defended  as  the  supreme  gift. 

The  Contrast. — Paul  begins  by  contrasting  love  with  other 
things  that  men  in  those  days  thought  much  of.  I  shall  not 
attempt  to  go  over  those  things  in  detail.  Their  inferiority  is 
already  obvious. 

He  contrasts  it  with  eloquence.  And  what  a  noble  gift  it  is, 
the  power  of  playing  upon  the  souls  and  wills  of  men,  and 


THE   GREATEST   THING   IN    THE   WORLD  433 

rousing  them  to  lofty  purposes  and  holy  deeds.  Paul  says, 
"  If  I  speak  with  the  tongues  of  men  and  of  angels,  and  have 
not  love,  I  am  become  as  sounding  brass,  or  a  tinkling  cym- 
bal." And  we  all  know  why.  We  have  all  felt  the  brazenness 
of  words  without  emotion,  the  hollowness,  the  unaccountable 
unpersuasiveness  of  eloquence  behind  which  lies  no  love. 

He  contrasts  it  with  prophecy.  He  contrasts  it  with  mys- 
teries. He  contrasts  it  with  faith.  He  contrasts  it  with  charity. 
Why  is  love  greater  than  faith  ?  Because  the  end  is  greater  than 
the  means.  And  why  is  it  greater  than  charity?  Because  the 
whole  is  greater  than  the  part.  Love  is  greater  than  faith,  be- 
cause the  end  is  greater  than  the  means.  What  is  the  use  of 
having  faith?  It  is  to  connect  the  soul  with  God.  And  what 
is  the  object  of  connecting  man  with  God?  That  he  may  be- 
come like  God.  But  God  is  love.  Hence  faith,  the  means,  is 
,  in  order  to  love,  the  end.  Love,  therefore,  obviously  is  greater 
than  faith.  It  is  greater  than  charity,  again,  because  the  whole 
is  greater  than  a  part.  Charity  is  only  a  little  bit  of  love,  one  of 
the  innumerable  avenues  of  love,  and  there  may  even  be,  and 
there  is,  a  great  deal  of  charity  without  love.  It  is  a  very  easy 
thing  to  toss  a  copper  to  a  beggar  on  the  street ;  it  is  generally 
an  easier  thing  than  not  to  do  it.  Yet  love  is  just  as  often  in  the 
withholding. 

We  purchase  relief  from  the  sympathetic  feelings  roused  by 
the  spectacle  of  misery,  at  the  copper's  cost.  It  is  too  cheap 
for  us,  and  often  too  dear  for  the  beggar.  If  we  really  loved 
him  we  would  either  do  more  for  him,  or  less. 

Then  Paul  contrasts  it  with  sacrifice  and  martyrdom.  And 
I  beg  the  little  band  of  would-be  missionaries — and  I  have  the 
honor  to  call  some  of  you  by  this  name  for  the  first  time — to 
remember  that  though  you  give  your  bodies  to  be  burned,  and 
have  not  love,  it  profits  nothing !  You  can  take  nothing  greater 
to  the  heathen  world  than  the  impress  and  reflection  of  the  love 
of  God  upon  your  own  character.  That  is  the  universal  lan- 
guage. It  will  take  you  years  to  speak  in  Chinese,  or  in  the 
dialects  of  India.  From  the  day  you  land,  that  language  of 
love,  understood  by  all,  will  be  pouring  forth  its  unconscious  el- 
oquence. It  is  the  man  who  is  the  missionary,  it  is  not  his  words. 
His  character  is  his  message.     In  the  heart  of  Africa,  among 

the  great  lakes,  I  have  come  across  black  men  and  women  who 
Vol.  II.— 28 


434  DRUMMOND 

remembered  the  only  white  man  they  ever  saw  before — David 
Livingstone ;  and  as  you  cross  his  footsteps  in  that  dark  con- 
tinent, men's  faces  light  up  as  they  speak  of  the  kind  doctor  who 
passed  there  years  ago.  They  could  not  understand  him ;  but 
they  felt  the  love  that  beat  in  his  heart.  Take  into  your  new 
sphere  of  labor,  where  you  also  mean  to  lay  down  your  life,  that 
simple  charm,  and  your  lifework  must  succeed.  You  can  take 
nothing  greater,  you  need  take  nothing  less.  It  is  not  worth 
while  going  if  you  take  anything  else.  You  may  take  every 
accomplishment ;  you  may  be  braced  for  every  sacrifice  ;  but  if 
you  give  your  body  to  be  burned,  and  have  not  love,  it  will  profit 
you  and  the  cause  of  Christ  nothing. 

The  Analysis. — After  contrasting  love  with  these  things, 
Paul,  in  three  verses,  very  short,  gives  us  an  amazing  analysis  of 
what  this  supreme  thing  is.  I  ask  you  to  look  at  it.  It  is  a 
compound  thing,  he  tells  us.  It  is  like  light.  As  you  have 
seen  a  man  of  science  take  a  beam  of  light  and  pass  it  throug'h 
a  crystal  prism,  as  you  have  seen  it  come  out  on  the  other  side 
of  the  prism  broken  up  into  its  component  colors — red,  and 
blue,  and  yellow,  and  violet,  and  orange,  and  all  the  colors  of  the 
rainbow — so  Paul  passes  this  thing,  love,  through  the  magnifi- 
cent prism  of  his  inspired  intellect,  and  it  comes  out  on  the 
other  side  broken  up  into  its  elements.  And  in  these  few  words 
we  have  what  one  might  call  the  spectrum  of  love,  the  analysis 
of  love.  Will  you  observe  what  its  elements  are?  Will  you  no- 
tice that  they  have  common  names ;  that  they  are  virtues  which 
we  hear  about  every  day ;  that  they  are  things  which  can  be 
practised  by  every  man  in  every  place  in  life,  and  how,  by  a 
multitude  of  small  things  and  ordinary  virtues,  the  supreme 
things,  the  snmmum  bonam,  is  made  up?  The  spectrum  of 
love  has  nine  ingredients  : 

Patience — "  Love  suffereth  long." 

Kindness — "  And  is  kind." 

Generosity — "  Love  envieth  not." 

Humility — "  Love  vaunteth  not  itself,  and  is  not  puffed  up." 

Courtesy — "  Doth  not  behave  itself  unseemly." 

Unselfishness — "  Seeketh  not  her  own." 

Good  Temper — "  Is  not  easily  provoked." 

Guilelessness — "  Thinketh  no  evil." 


THE   GREATEST   THING   IN    THE   WORLD  435 

Sincerity — "  Rcjoiceth  not  in  iniquity,  but  rejoiceth  in  the 
truth." 

Patience ;  kindness  ;  generosity ;  humility ;  courtesy ;  unself- 
ishness ;  good  temper ;  guilelessness ;  sincerity — these  make 
up  the  supreme  gift,  the  stature  of  the  perfect  man.  You  will 
observe  that  all  are  in  relation  to  men,  in  relation  to  life,  in  rela- 
tion to  the  known  to-day  and  the  near  to-morrow,  and  not  to  the 
unknown  eternity.  We  hear  much  of  love  to  God ;  Christ 
spoke  much  of  love  to  man.  We  make  a  great  deal  of  peace  with 
heaven ;  Christ  made  much  of  peace  on  earth.  Religion  is  not  a 
strange  or  added  thing,  but  the  inspiration  of  the  secular  life, 
the  breathing  of  an  eternal  spirit  through  this  temporal  world. 
The  supreme  thing,  in  short,  is  not  a  thing  at  all,  but  the  giving 
of  a  further  finish  to  the  multitudinous  words  and  acts  which 
make  up  the  sum  of  every  common  day. 

There  is  no  time  to  do  more  than  make  a  passing  note  upon 
each  of  these  ingredients.  Love  is  patience.  This  is  the  normal 
attitude  of  love ;  love  passive,  love  waiting  to  begin ;  not  in  a 
hurry ;  calm ;  ready  to  do  its  work  when  the  summons  comes, 
but  meantime  wearing  the  ornament  of  a  meek  and  quiet  spirit. 
Love  suffers  long ;  beareth  all  things ;  believeth  all  things ; 
hopeth  all  things.    For  love  understands,  and  therefore  waits. 

Kindness.  Love  active.  Have  you  ever  noticed  how  much 
of  Christ's  life  was  spent  in  doing  kind  things — in  merely  doing 
kind  things?  Run  over  it  with  that  in  view,  and  you  will  find 
that  He  spent  a  great  proportion  of  His  time  simply  in  making 
people  happy,  in  doing  good  turns  to  people.  There  is  only 
one  thing  greater  than  happiness  in  the  world,  and  that  is  holi- 
ness ;  and  it  is  not  in  our  keeping ;  but  what  God  has  put  in 
our  power  is  the  happiness  of  those  about  us,  and  that  is  largely 
to  be  secured  by  our  being  kind  to  them. 

"  The  greatest  thing,"  says  some  one,  "  a  man  can  do  for  his 
Heavenly  Father  is  to  be  kind  to  some  of  His  other  children." 
I  wonder  why  it  is  that  we  are  not  all  kinder  than  we  are? 
How  much  the  world  needs  it.  How  easily  it  is  done.  How 
instantaneously  it  acts.  How  infallibly  it  is  remembered.  How 
superabundantly  it  pays  itself  back — for  there  is  no  debtor  in 
the  world  so  honorable,  so  superbly  honorable,  as  love.  "  Love 
never  faileth."  Love  is  success,  love  is  happiness,  love  is  life. 
"  Love,"  I  say,  with  Browning,  "  is  energy  of  life." 


436  DRUMMOND 

"  For  life,  with  all  it  yields  of  joy  or  woe 
And  hope  and  fear, 

Is  just  our  chance  o'  the  prize  of  learning  love — 
How  love  might  be,  hath  been  indeed,  and  is." 

Where  love  is,  God  is.     He  that  dwelleth  in  love  dwelleth  in 
God.    God  is  love. 

Therefore  love.  Without  distinction,  without  calculating, 
without  procrastination,  love.  Lavish  it  upon  the  poor,  where 
it  is  very  easy ;  especially  upon  the  rich,  who  often  need  it 
most ;  most  of  all  upon  our  equals,  where  it  is  very  difficult,  and 
for  whom  perhaps  we  each  do  least  of  all.  There  is  a  differ- 
ence between  trying  to  please  and  giving  pleasure. 

Always  give  pleasure.  Lose  no  chance  of  giving  pleasure. 
For  that  is  the  ceaseless  and  anonymous  triumph  of  a  truly 
loving  spirit.  "  I  shall  pass  through  this  world  but  once.  Any 
good  thing,  therefore,  that  I  can  do,  or  any  kindness  that  I  can 
show  to  any  human  being,  let  me  do  it  now.  Let  me  not  defer 
it  or  neglect  it,  for  I  shall  not  pass  this  way  again." 

Generosity.  "  Love  envieth  not."  This  is  love  in  competi- 
tion with  others.  Whenever  you  attempt  a  good  work  you  will 
find  other  men  doing  the  same  kind  of  work,  and  probably 
doing  it  better.  Envy  them  not.  Envy  is  a  feeling  of  ill-will 
to  those  who  are  in  the  same  line  as  ourselves,  a  spirit  of  covet- 
ousness  and  detraction.  How  little  Christian  work  even  is  a 
protection  against  un-Christian  feeling.  That  most  despicable 
of  all  the  unworthy  moods  which  cloud  a  Christian's  soul  as- 
suredly waits  for  us  on  the  threshold  of  every  work,  unless  we . 
are  fortified  with  this  grace  of  magnanimity.  Only  one  thing 
tiuly  need  the  Christian  envy,  the  large,  rich,  generous  soul 
which  "  envieth  not." 

And  then,  after  having  learned  all  that,  you  have  to  learn 
this  further  thing,  Humility — to  put  a  seal  upon  your  lips  and 
forget  what  you  have  done.  After  you  have  been  kind,  after 
love  has  stolen  forth  into  the  world  and  done  its  beautiful  work, 
go  back  into  the  shade  again  and  say  nothing  about  it.  Love 
hides  even  from  itself.  Love  waives  even  self-satisfaction. 
"  Love  vaunteth  not  itself,  is  not  puffed  up." 

The  fifth  ingredient  is  a  somewhat  strange  one  to  find  in  this 
summum  bonum:  Courtesy.  This  is  love  in  society,  love  in 
relation  to  etiquette :    "  Love  doth  not  behave  itself  unseemly." 


THE   GREATEST   THING   IN   THE   WORLD 


437 


Politeness  has  been  defined  as  love  in  trifles.  Courtesy  is  said 
to  be  love  in  little  things.  And  the  one  secret  of  politeness  is  to 
love.  Love  cannot  behave  itself  unseemly.  You  can  put  the 
most  untutored  persons  into  the  highest  society,  and  if  they 
have  a  reservoir  of  love  in  their  heart,  they  will  not  behave 
themselves  unseemly.  They  simply  cannot  do  it.  Carlyle  said 
of  Robert  Burns  that  there  was  no  truer  gentleman  in  Europe 
than  the  ploughman-poet.  It  was  because  he  loved  everything 
— the  mouse,  and  the  daisy,  and  all  the  things,  great  and  small, 
that  God  had  made.  So  with  this  simple  passport  he  could 
mingle  with  any  society,  and  enter  courts  and  palaces  from  his 
little  cottage  on  the  banks  of  the  Ayr.  You  know  the  meaning 
of  the  word  "  gentleman."  It  means  a  gentle  man — a  man 
who  does  things  gently  with  love.  And  that  is  the  whole  art 
and  mystery  of  it.  The  gentle  man  cannot  in  the  nature  of 
things  do  an  ungentle,  an  ungentlemanly  thing.  The  ungentle 
soul,  the  inconsiderate,  unsympathetic  nature  cannot  do  any- 
thing else.    "  Love  doth  not  behave  itself  unseemly." 

Unselfishness.  '  Love  seeketh  not  her  own."  Observe : 
Sceketh  not  even  that  which  is  her  own.  In  Britain  the  Eng- 
lishman is  devoted,  and  rightly,  to  his  rights.  But  there  come 
times  when  a  man  may  exercise  even  the  higher  right  of  giving 
up  his  rights.  Yet  Paul  does  not  summon  us  to  give  up  our 
rights.  Love  strikes  much  deeper.  It  would  have  us  not  seek 
them  at  all,  ignore  them,  eliminate  the  personal  element  alto- 
gether from  our  calculations.  It  is  not  hard  to  give  up  our 
rights.  They  are  often  external.  The  difficult  thing  is  to  give 
up  ourselves.  The  more  difficult  thing  still  is  not  to  seek  things 
for  ourselves  at  all.  After  we  have  sought  them,  bought  them, 
won  them,  deserved  them,  we  have  taken  the  cream  off  them 
for  ourselves  already.  Little  cross  then  perhaps  to  give  them 
up.  But  not  to  seek  them,  to  look  every  man  not  on  his  own 
things,  but  on  the  things  of  others — id  opus  est.  '''  Seekest  thou 
great  things  for  thyself?  "  said  the  prophet ;  "  seek  them  not." 
Why  ?  Because  there  is  no  greatness  in  things.  Things  cannot 
be  great.  The  only  greatness  is  unselfish  love.  Even  self-denial 
in  itself  is  nothing,  is  almost  a  mistake.  Only  a  great  purpose 
or  a  mightier  love  can  justify  the  waste.  It  is  more  difficult,  I 
have  said,  not  to  seek  our  own  at  all,  than  having  sought  it,  to 
give  it  up.    I  must  take  that  back.    It  is  only  true  of  a  partly 


438  DRUMMOND 

selfish  heart.  Nothing  is  a  hardship  to  love,  and  nothing-  is 
hard.  I  believe  that  Christ's  yoke  is  easy.  Christ's  "  yoke  "  is 
just  His  way  of  taking  life.  And  I  believe  it  is  an  easier  way 
than  any  other.  I  believe  it  is  a  happier  way  than  any  other. 
The  most  obvious  lesson  in  Christ's  teaching  is  that  there  is  no 
happiness  in  having  and  getting  anything,  but  only  in  giving. 
I  repeat,  there  is  no  happiness  in  having  or  in  getting,  but  only 
in  giving.  And  half  the  world  is  on  the  wrong  scent  in  the 
pursuit  of  happiness.  They  think  it  consists  in  having  and 
getting,  and  in  being  served  by  others.  It  consists  in  giving, 
and  in  serving  others.  He  that  would  be  great  among  you,  said 
Christ,  let  him  serve.  He  that  would  be  happy,  let  him  re- 
member that  there  is  but  one  way — it  is  more  blessed,  it  is  more 
happy,  to  give  than  to  receive. 

The  next  ingredient  is  a  very  remarkable  one :  good  temper. 
'  Love  is  not  easily  provoked."  Nothing  could  be  more  strik- 
ing than  to  find  this  here. 

We  are  inclined  to  look  upon  bad  temper  as  a  very  harmless 
weakness.  We  speak  of  it  as  a  mere  infirmity  of  nature,  a 
family  failing,  a  matter  of  temperament,  not  a  thing  to  take 
into  very  serious  account  in  estimating  a  man's  character.  And 
yet  here,  right  in  the  heart  of  this  analysis  of  love,  it  finds  a 
place ;  and  the  Bible  again  and  again  returns  to  condemn  it  as 
one  of  the  most  destructive  elements  in  human  nature. 

The  peculiarity  of  ill-temper  is  that  it  is  the  vice  of  the  virtu- 
ous. It  is  often  the  one  blot  on  an  otherwise  noble  character. 
You  know  men  who  are  all  but  perfect,  and  women  who  would 
be  entirely  perfect,  but  for  an  easily  ruffled,  quick-tempered,  or 
"  touchy  "  disposition.  This  compatibility  of  ill-temper  with 
high  moral  character  is  one  of  the  strangest  and  saddest  prob- 
lems of  ethics.  The  truth  is,  there  are  to  great  classes  of  sin — 
sins  of  the  body,  and  sins  of  the  disposition.  The  "  prodigal 
son  "  may  be  taken  as  a  type  of  the  first,  the  "  elder  brother  " 
of  the  second.  Now  society  has  no  doubt  whatever  as  to  which 
of  these  is  the  worse.  Its  brand  falls  without  a  challenge,  upon 
the  prodigal.  But  are  we  right  ?  We  have  no  balance  to  weigh 
one  another's  sins,  and  coarser  and  finer  are  but  human  words ; 
but  faults  in  the  higher  nature  may  be  less  venial  than  those  in 
the  lower,  and  to  the  eye  of  Him  who  is  love,  a  sin  against  love 
may  seem  a  hundred  times  more  base.     No  form  of  vice,  not 


THE   GREATEST   THING    IN   THE   WORLD  439 

worldliness,  not  greed  of  gold,  not  drunkenness  itself,  does 
more  to  un-Christianize  society  than  evil  temper.  For  im- 
bittering  life,  for  breaking  up  communities,  for  destroying  the 
most  sacred  relationships,  for  devastating  homes,  for  withering 
up  men  and  women,  for  taking  the  bloom  off  childhood,  in 
short,  for  sheer  gratuitous  misery  producing  power,  this  in- 
fluence stands  alone.  Look  at  the  elder  brother,  moral,  hard- 
working, patient,  dutiful — let  him  get  all  credit  for  his  virtues 
— look  at  this  man,  this  baby,  sulking  outside  his  own  father's 
door.  "  He  was  angry,"  we  read,  "  and  would  not  go  in." 
Look  at  the  effect  upon  the  father,  upon  the  servants,  upon  the 
happiness  of  the  guests.  Judge  of  the  effect  upon  the  prodigal 
— and  how  many  prodigals  are  kept  out  of  the  kingdom  of  God 
by  the  unlovely  character  of  those  who  profess  to  be  inside? 
Analyze,  as  a  study  in  temper,  the  thundercloud  itself  as  it 
gathers  upon  the  elder  brother's  brow.  What  is  it  made  of? 
Jealousy,  anger,  pride,  uncharity,  cruelty,  self-righteousness, 
touchiness,  doggedness,  sullenness — these  are  the  ingredients 
of  this  dark  and  loveless  soul.  In  varying  proportions,  also, 
these  are  the  ingredients  of  all  ill-temper.  Judge  if  such  sins 
of  the  disposition  are  not  worse  to  live  in,  and  for  others  to  live 
with,  than  the  sins  of  the  body.  Did  Christ  indeed  not  answer 
the  question  Himself  when  He  said,  "  I  say  unto  you  that  the 
publicans  and  the  harlots  go  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  be- 
fore you."  There  is  really  no  place  in  heaven  for  a  disposition 
like  this.  A  man  with  such  a  mood  could  only  make  heaven 
miserable  for  all  the  people  in  it.  Except,  therefore,  such  a 
man  be  born  again,  he  cannot,  he  simply  cannot,  enter  the  king- 
dom of  heaven.  For  it  is  perfectly  certain — and  you  will  not 
misunderstand  me — that  to  enter  heaven  a  man  must  take  it 
with  him. 

You  will  see  then  why  temper  is  significant.  It  is  not  in 
what  it  is  alone,  but  in  what  it  reveals.  This  is  why  I  take 
the  liberty  now  of  speaking  of  it  with  such  unusual  plainness. 
It  is  a  test  for  love,  a  symptom,  a  revelation  of  an  unloving 
nature  at  bottom.  It  is  the  intermittent  fever  which  bespeaks 
unintermittent  disease  within ;  the  occasional  bubble  escaping 
to  the  surface  which  betrays  some  rottenness  underneath ;  a 
sample  of  the  most  hidden  products  of  the  soul  dropped  in- 
voluntarily when  off  one's  guard ;    in  a  word,  the  lightning 


44o  DRUMMOND 

form  of  a  hundred  hideous  and  un-Christian  sins.  For  a  want 
of  patience,  a  want  of  kindness,  a  want  of  generosity,  a  want 
of  courtesy,  a  want  of  unselfishness,  are  all  instantaneously 
symbolized  in  one  flash  of  temper. 

Hence  it  is  not  enough  to  deal  with  the  temper.  We  must 
go  to  the  source,  and  change  the  inmost  nature,  and  the  angry 
humors  will  die  away  of  themselves.  Souls  are  made  sweet  not 
by  taking  the  acid  fluids  out,  but  by  putting  something  in — a 
great  love,  a  new  spirit,  the  spirit  of  Christ.  Christ,  the  spirit 
of  Christ,  interpenetrating  ours,  sweetens,  purifies,  transforms 
all.  This  only  can  eradicate  what  is  wrong,  work  a  chemical 
change,  renovate  and  regenerate  and  rehabilitate  the  inner  man. 
Will  power  does  not  change  man.  Time  does  not  change  man. 
Christ  does.  Therefore,  "  Let  that  mind  be  in  you  which  was 
also  in  Christ  Jesus."  .Some  of  us  have  not  much  time  to  lose. 
Remember  once  more,  that  this  is  a  matter  of  life  or  death.  I 
cannot  help  speaking  urgently,  for  myself,  for  yourselves. 
'  Whoso  shall  offend  one  of  these  little  ones,  which  believe  in 
me,  it  were  better  for  him  that  a  mill-stone  were  hanged  about 
his  neck,  and  that  he  were  drowned  in  the  depth  of  the  sea." 
That  is  to  say,  it  is  the  deliberate  verdict  of  the  Lord  Jesus  that 
it  is  better  not  to  live  than  not  to  love.  It  is  better  not  to  live 
than  not  to  love. 

Guilelessness  and  sincerity  may  be  dismissed  almost  with  a 
word.  Guilelessness  is  the  grace  for  suspicious  people.  And 
the  possession  of  it  is  the  great  secret  of  personal  influence.  You 
will  find,  if  you  think  for  a  moment,  that  the  people  who  in- 
fluence you  are  people  who  believe  in  you.  In  an  atmosphere  of 
suspicion  men  shrivel  up ;  but  in  that  atmosphere  they  expand, 
and  find  encouragement  and  educative  fellowship.  It  is  a  won- 
derful thing  that  here  and  there  in  this  hard,  uncharitable 
world  there  should  still  be  left  a  few  rare  souls  who  think  no 
evil.  This  is  the  great  unworldliness.  Love  "  thinketh  no  evil," 
imputes  no  motive,  sees  the  bright  side,  puts  the  best  construc- 
tion on  every  action.  What  a  delightful  state  of  mind  to  live 
in !  What  a  stimulus  and  benediction  even  to  meet  with  it  for 
a  day !  To  be  trusted  is  to  be  saved.  And  if  we  try  to  influence 
or  elevate  othersr  we  shall  soon  see  that  success  is  in  propor- 
tion to  their  belief  of  our  belief  in  them.  For  the  respect  of 
another  is  the  first  restoration  of  the  self-respect  a  man  has  lost ; 


THE    GREATEST   THING    IN    THE    WORLD  44I 

our  ideal  of  what  he  is  becomes  to  him  the  hope  and  pattern 
of  what  he  may  become. 

"  Love  rejoiceth  not  in  iniquity,  but  rejoiceth  in  the  truth." 
I  have  called  this  sincerity  from  the  words  rendered  in  the  Au- 
thorized Version  by  "  rejoiceth  in  the  truth."  And,  certainly, 
were  this  the  real  translation,  nothing  could  be  more  just.  For 
he  who  loves  will  love  truth  not  less  than  men.  He  will  re- 
joice in  the  truth — rejoice  not  in  what  he  has  been  taught  to  be- 
lieve ;  not  in  this  church's  doctrine  or  in  that ;  not  in  this  ism 
or  in  that  ism ;  but  "  in  the  truth."  He  will  accept  only  what 
is  real ;  he  will  strive  to  get  at  facts ;  he  will  search  for  truth 
with  an  humble  and  unbiassed  mind,  and  cherish  whatever  he 
finds  at  any  sacrifice.  But  the  more  literal  translation  of  the 
Revised  Version  calls  for  just  such  a  sacrifice  for  truth's  sake 
here.  For  what  Paul  really  meant  is,  as  we  there  read,  "  Re- 
joiceth not  in  unrighteousness,  but  rejoiceth  with  the  truth,"  a 
quality  which  probably  no  one  English  word — and  certainly 
not  sincerity — adequately  defines.  It  includes,  perhaps  more 
strictly,  the  self-restraint  which  refuses  to  make  capital  out  of 
others'  faults ;  the  charity  which  delights  not  in  exposing  the 
weakness  of  others,  but  "  covereth  all  things  " ;  the  sincerity  of 
purpose  which  endeavors  to  see  things  as  they  are,  and  rejoices 
to  find  them  better  than  suspicion  feared  or  calumny  denounced. 

So  much  for  the  analysis  of  love.  Now  the  business  of  our 
lives  is  to  have  these  things  fitted  into  our  characters.  That  is 
the  supreme  work  to  which  we  need  to  address  ourselves  in  this 
world,  to  learn  love.  Is  life  not  full  of  opportunities  for  learn- 
ing love  ?  Every  man  and  woman  every  day  has  a  thousand  of 
them.  The  world  is  not  a  playground ;  it  is  a  schoolroom. 
Life  is  not  a  holiday,  but  an  education.  And  the  one  eternal 
lesson  for  us  all  is  how  better  we  can  love.  What  makes  a  man 
a  good  cricketer  ?  Practice.  What  makes  a  man  a  good  artist, 
a  good  sculptor,  a  good  musician?  Practice.  What  makes  a 
man  a  good  linguist,  a  good  stenographer?  Practice.  What 
makes  a  man  a  good  man?  Practice.  Nothing  else.  There  is 
nothing  capricious  about  religion.  We  do  not  get  the  soul  in 
different  ways,  under  different  laws,  from  those  in  which  we 
get  the  body  and  the  mind.  If  a  man  does  not  exercise  his  arm 
he  develops  no  biceps  muscle ;  and  if  a  man  does  not  exercise 
his  soul,  he  acquires  no  muscle  in  his  soul,  no  strength  of  char- 


442 


DRUMMOND 


acter,  no  vigor  of  moral  fibre,  nor  beauty  of  spiritual  growth. 
Love  is  not  a  thing  of  enthusiastic  emotion.  It  is  a  rich,  strong, 
manly,  vigorous  expression  of  the  whole  round  Christian  char- 
acter— the  Christ-like  nature  in  its  fullest  development.  And 
the  constituents  of  this  great  character  are  only  to  be  built  up 
by  a  ceaseless  practice. 

What  was  Christ  doing  in  the  carpenter's  shop?  Practising. 
Though  perfect,  we  read  that  He  learned  obedience,  He  in- 
creased in  wisdom  and  in  favor  with  God  and  man.  Do  not 
quarrel,  therefore,  with  your  lot  in  life.  Do  not  complain  of 
its  never-ceasing  cares,  its  petty  environment,  the  vexations  you 
have  to  stand,  the  small  and  sordid  souls  you  have  to  live  and 
work  with.  Above  all,  do  not  resent  temptation ;  do  not  be 
perplexed  because  it  seems  to  thicken  round  you  more  and  more, 
and  ceases  neither  for  effort  nor  for  agony  nor  prayer.  That  is 
the  practice  which  God  appoints  you ;  and  it  is  having  its  work 
in  making  you  patient,  and  humble,  and  generous,  and  unselfish, 
and  kind,  and  courteous.  Do  not  grudge  the  hand  that  is 
moulding  the  still  too  shapeless  image  within  you.  It  is  grow- 
ing more  beautiful,  though  you  see  it  not,  and  every  touch  of 
temptation  may  add  to  its  perfection.  Therefore,  keep  in  the 
midst  of  life.  Do  not  isolate  yourself.  Be  among  men,  and 
among  things,  and  among  troubles,  and  difficulties,  and  ob- 
stacles. You  remember  Goethe's  words :  Es  bildet  ein  Talent 
sich  in  der  Siille,  Dock  ein  Character  in  dem  Strom  der  Welt. 
"  Talent  develops  itself  in  solitude ;  character  in  the  stream  of 
life." 

Talent  develops  itself  in  solitude — the  talent  of  prayer,  of 
faith,  of  meditation,  of  seeing  the  unseen;  character  grows 
in  the  stream  of  the  world's  life.  That  chiefly  is  where  men 
are  to  learn  love. 

How  ?  Now,  how  ?  To  make  it  easier,  I  have  named  a  few 
of  the  elements  of  love.  But  these  are  only  elements.  Love 
itself  can  never  be  defined.  Light  is  a  something  more  than  the 
sum  of  its  ingredients — a  glowing,  dazzling,  tremulous  ether. 
And  love  is  something  more  than  all  its  elements — a  palpitating, 
quivering,  sensitive,  living  thing.  By  synthesis  of  all  the  colors, 
men  can  make  whiteness,  they  cannot  make  light.  By  synthesis 
of  all  the  virtues,  men  can  make  virtue,  they  cannot  make  love. 
How  then  are  we  to  have  this  transcendent  living  whole  con- 


THE   GREATEST   THING   IN    THE    WORLD 


443 


veyed  into  ours  souls?  We  brace  our  wills  to  secure  it.  We 
try  to  copy  those  who  have  it.  We  lay  down  rules  about  it.  We 
watch.  We  pray.  But  these  things  alone  will  not  bring  love 
into  our  nature.  Love  is  an  effect.  And  only  as  we  fulfil  the 
right  condition  can  we  have  the  effect  produced.  Shall  I  tell 
you  what  the  cause  is  ? 

If  you  turn  to  the  Revised  Version  of  the  First  Epistle  of 
John  you  will  find  these  words :  "  We  love  because  He  first 
loved  us."  "  We  love,"  not  "  We  love  Him."  That  is  the  way 
the  old  version  has  it,  and  it  is  quite  wrong. 

"  We  love — because  He  first  loved  us."  Look  at  that  word 
"  because."  It  is  the  cause  of  which  I  have  spoken.  "  Because 
He  first  loved  us,"  the  effect  follows  that  we  love,  we  love  Him, 
we  love  all  men.  We  cannot  help  it.  Because  He  loved  us,  we 
love,  we  love  everybody.  Our  heart  is  slowly  changed.  Con- 
template the  love  of  Christ,  and  you  will  love.  Stand  before 
that  mirror,  reflect  Christ's  character,  and  you  will  be  changed 
into  the  same  image  from  tenderness  to  tenderness.  There  is 
no  other  way.  You  cannot  love  to  order.  You  can  only  look  at 
the  lovely  object,  and  fall  in  love  with  it,  and  grow  into  likeness 
to  it.  And  so  look  at  this  perfect  character,  this  perfect  life. 
Look  at  the  great  sacrifice  as  He  laid  down  Himself,  all  through 
life,  and  upon  the  cross  of  Calvary ;  and  you  must  love  Him. 
And  loving  Him,  you  must  become  like  Him.  Love  begets  love. 
It  is  a  process  of  induction.  Put  a  piece  of  iron  in  the  presence 
of  an  electrified  body,  and  that  piece  of  iron  for  a  time  becomes 
electrified.  It  is  changed  into  a  temporary  magnet,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  a  permanent  magnet,  and  as  long  as  you  leave  the  two 
side  by  side,  they  are  both  magnets  alike.  Remain  side  by  side 
with  Him  who  loved  us,  and  gave  Himself  for  us,  and  you  too 
will  become  a  permanent  magnet,  a  permanently  attractive 
force ;  and  like  Him  you  will  draw  all  men  unto  you,  like  Him 
you  will  be  drawn  unto  all  men.  That  is  the  inevitable  effect  of 
love.  Any  man  who  fulfils  that  cause  must  have  that  effect  pro- 
duced in  him.  Try  to  give  up  the  idea  that  religion  comes  to  us 
by  chance,  or  by  mystery,  or  by  caprice.  It  comes  to  us  by  nat- 
ural law,  or  by  supernatural  law,  for  all  law  is  divine.  Edward 
Irving  went  to  see  a  dying  boy  once,  and  when  he  entered  the 
room  he  just  put  his  hand  on  the  sufferer's  head,  and  said,  "  My 
boy,  God  loves  you,"  and  went  away.     And  the  boy  started 


444  DRUMMOND 

from  his  bed,  and  called  out  to  the  people  in  the  house,  "  God 
loves  me  !  God  loves  me  !  "  It  changed  that  boy.  The  sense 
that  God  loved  him  overpowered  him,  melted  him  down,  and 
began  the  creating  of  a  new  heart  in  him.  And  that  is  how  the 
love  of  God  melts  down  the  unlovely  heart  in  man,  and  begets 
in  him  the  new  creature,  who  is  patient  and  humble  and  gentle 
and  unselfish.  And  there  is  no  other  way  to  get  it.  There  is 
no  mystery  about  it.  We  love  others,  we  love  everybody,  we 
love  our  enemies,  because  He  first  loved  us. 

The  Defence. — Now  I  have  a  closing  sentence  or  two  to  add 
about  Paul's  reason  for  singling  out  love  as  the  supreme  pos- 
session. It  is  a  very  remarkable  reason.  In  a  single  word  it  is 
this  :  it  lasts.  "  Love,"  urges  Paul,  "  never  faileth."  Then  he 
begins  again  one  of  his  marvellous  lists  of  the  great  things  of 
the  day,  and  exposes  them  one  by  one.  He  runs  over  the  things 
that  men  thought  were  going  to  last,  and  shows  that  they  are  all 
fleeting,  temporary,  passing  away. 

"  Whether  there  be  prophecies,  they  shall  fail."  It  was  the 
mother's  ambition  for  her  boy  in  those  days  that  he  should  be- 
come a  prophet.  For  hundreds  of  years  God  had  never  spoken 
by  means  of  any  prophet,  and  at  that  time  the  prophet  was 
greater  than  the  king.  Men  waited  wistfully  for  another  mes- 
senger to  come,  and  hung  upon  his  lips  when  he  appeared  as 
upon  the  very  voice  of  God.  Paul  says,  "  Whether  there  be 
prophecies,  they  shall  fail."  This  book  is  full  of  prophecies. 
One  by  one  they  have  "  failed  " ;  that  is,  having  been  fulfilled, 
their  work  is  finished  ;  they  have  nothing  more  to  do  now  in  the 
world  except  to  feed  a  devout  man's  faith. 

Then  Paul  talks  about  tongues.  That  was  another  thing  that 
was  greatly  coveted.  '  Whether  there  be  tongues,  they  shall 
cease."  As  we  all  know,  many,  many  centuries  have  passed 
since  tongues  have  been  known  in  this  world.  They  have  ceased. 
Take  it  in  any  sense  you  like.  Take  it,  for  illustration  merely, 
as  languages  in  general — a  sense  which  was  not  in  Paul's  mind 
at  all,  and  which,  though  it  cannot  give  us  the  specific  lesson,  will 
point  the  general  truth.  Consider  the  words  in  which  these 
chapters  were  written — Greek.  It  has  gone.  Take  the  Latin — 
the  other  great  tongue  of  those  days.  It  ceased  long  ago.  Look 
at  the  Indian  language.  It  is  ceasing.  The  language  of  Wales, 
of  Ireland,  of  the  Scottish  Highlands  is  dying  before  our  eyes. 


THE   GREATEST  THING   IN   THE   WORLD  445 

The  most  popular  book  in  the  English  tongue  at  the  present 
time,  except  the  Bible,  is  one  of  Dickens's  works,  his  "  Pick- 
wick Papers."  It  is  largely  written  in  the  language  of  London 
street  life;  and  experts  assure  us  that  in  fifty  years  it  will  be 
unintelligible  to  the  average  English  reader. 

Then  Paul  goes  further  and  with  even  greater  boldness  adds, 
"  Whether  there  be  knowledge,  it  shall  vanish  away."  The 
wisdom  of  the  ancients,  where  is  it?  It  is  wholly  gone.  A 
schoolboy  to-day  knows  more  than  Sir  Isaac  Newton  knew. 
His  knowledge  has  vanished  away.  You  put  yesterday's  news- 
paper in  the  fire.  Its  knowledge  has  vanished  away.  You  buy 
the  ol  editions  of  the  great  encyclopedias  for  a  few  pence. 
Their  knowledge  has  vanished  away.  Look  how  the  coach  has 
been  superseded  by  the  use  of  steam.  Look  how  electricity 
has  superseded  that,  and  swept  a  hundred  almost  new  inven- 
tions into  oblivion.  One  of  the  greatest  living  authorities,  Sir 
William  Thompson,  said  the  other  day,  "  The  steam  engine  is 
passing  away."  "  Whether  there  be  knowledge,  it  shall  vanish 
away."  At  every  workshop  you  will  see,  in  the  back  yard,  a 
heap  of  old  iron,  a  few  wheels,  a  few  levers,  a  few  cranks, 
broken  and  eaten  with  rust.  Twenty  years  ago  that  was  the 
pride  of  the  city.  Men  flocked  in  from  the  country  to  see  the 
great  invention ;  now  it  is  superseded,  its  day  is  done.  And 
all  the  boasted  science  and  philosophy  of  this  day  will  soon  be 
old.  But  yesterday,  in  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  the  great- 
est figure  in  the  faculty  was  Sir  James  Simpson,  the  discov- 
erer of  chloroform.  The  other  day  his  successor  and  nephew, 
Professor  Simpson,  was  asked  by  the  librarian  of  the  university 
to  go  to  the  library  and  pick  out  the  books  on  his  subject  that 
were  no  longer  needed.  And  his  reply  to  the  librarian  was 
this :  "  Take  every  text-book  that  is  more  than  ten  years  old, 
and  put  it  down  in  the  cellar."  Sir  James  Simpson  was  a 
great  authority  only  a  few  years  ago :  men  came  from  all  parts 
of  the  earth  to  consult  him ;  and  almost  the  whole  teaching 
of  that  time  is  consigned  by  the  science  of  to-day  to  oblivion. 
And  in  every  branch  of  science  it  is  the  same.  "  Now  we  know 
in  part.     We  see  through  a  glass,  darkly." 

Can  you  tell  me  anything  that  is  going  to  last?  Many  things 
Paul  did  not  condescend  to  name.  He  did  not  mention  money, 
fortune,  fame ;  but  he  picked  out  the  great  things  of  his  time, 


446  DRUMMOND 

the  things  the  best  men  thought  had  something  in  them,  and 
brushed  them  peremptorily  aside.  Paul  had  no  charge  against 
these  things  in  themselves.  All  he  said  about  them  was  that  they 
would  not  last.  They  were  great  things,  but  not  supreme  things. 
There  were  things  beyond  them.  What  we  are  stretches  past 
what  we  do,  beyond  what  we  possess.  Many  things  that  men 
denounce  as  sins  are  not  sins  ;  but  they  are  temporary.  And  that 
is  a  favorite  argument  of  the  New  Testament.  John  says  of  the 
world,  not  that  it  is  wrong,  but  simply  that  it  "  passeth  away." 
There  is  a  great  deal  in  the  world  that  is  delightful  and  beauti- 
ful ;  there  is  a  great  deal  in  it  that  is  great  and  engrossing ;  but 
it  will  not  last.  All  that  is  in  the  world,  the  lust  of  the  eye,  the 
lust  of  the  flesh,  and  the  pride  of  life,  are  but  for  a  little  while. 
Love  not  the  world,  therefore.  Nothing  that  it  contains  is  worth 
the  life  and  consecration  of  an  immortal  soul.  The  immortal 
soul  must  give  itself  to  something  that  is  immortal.  And  the 
only  immortal  things  are  these :  "  Now  abideth  faith,  hope, 
love ;  but  the  greatest  of  these  is  love." 

Some  think  the  time  may  come  when  two  of  these  three  things 
will  also  pass  away — faith  into  sight,  hope  into  fruition.  Paul 
does  not  say  so.  We  know  but  little  now  about  the  conditions  of 
the  life  that  is  to  come.  But  what  is  certain  is  that  love  must 
last.  God,  the  eternal  God,  is  love.  Covet,  therefore,  that  ever- 
lasting gift,  that  one  thing  which  it  is  certain  is  going  to  stand, 
that  one  coinage  which  will  be  current  in  the  universe  when  all 
the  other  coinages  of  all  the  nations  of  the  world  shall  be  useless 
and  unhonored.  You  will  give  yourselves  to  many  things ; 
give  yourselves  first  to  love.  Hold  things  in  their  proportion. 
Hold  things  in  their  proportion.  Let  at  least  the  first  great 
object  of  our  lives  be  to  achieve  the  character  defended  in  these 
words,  the  character — and  it  is  the  character  of  Christ — which 
is  built  round  love. 

I  have  said  this  thing  is  eternal.  Did  you  ever  notice  how  con- 
tinually John  associates  love  and  faith  with  eternal  life?  I  was 
not  told  when  I  was  a  boy  that  "  God  so  loved  the  world  that  He 
gave  His  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  Him 
should  have  everlasting  life."  What  I  was  told,  I  remember, 
was,  that  God  so  loved  the  world  that,  if  I  trusted  in  Him,  I  was 
to  have  a  thing  called  peace,  or  I  was  to  have  rest,  or  I  was  to 
have  joy,  or  I  was  to  have  safety.  But  I  had  to  find  out  for  my- 


THE   GREATEST    THING    IN    THE   WORLD  447 

self  that  whosoever  trusteth  in  Him — that  is,  whosoever  lovelii 
Him — for  trust  is  only  the  avenue  to  love — hath  everlasting  life. 
The  gospel  offers  a  man  life.  Never  offer  men  a  thimbleful  of 
gospel.  Do  not  offer  them  merely  joy,  or  merely  peace,  or 
merely  rest,  or  merely  safety ;  tell  them  how  Christ  came  to 
give  men  a  more  abundant  life  than  they  have,  a  life  abundant 
in  love,  and  therefore  abundant  in  salvation  for  themselves, 
and  large  in  enterprise  for  the  alleviation  anc1  redemption  of 
the  world.  Then  only  can  the  gospel  take  hold  of  the  whole 
of  a  man,  body,  soul,  and  spirit,  and  give  to  each  part  of  his 
nature  its  exercise  and  reward.  Many  of  the  current  gospels 
are  addressed  only  to  a  part  of  man's  nature.  They  offer 
peace,  not  life;  faith,  not  love;  justification,  not  regeneration. 
And  men  slip  back  again  from  such  religion  because  it  has 
never  really  held  them.  Their  nature  was  not  all  in  it.  It 
offered  no  deeper  and  gladder  life-current  than  the  life  that 
was  lived  before.  Surely  it  stands  to  reason  that  only  a  fuller 
love  can  compete  with  the  love  of  the  world. 

To  love  abundantly  is  to  live  abundantly,  and  to  love  forever 
is  to  live  forever.  Hence,  eternal  life  is  inextricably  bound  up 
with  love.  We  want  to  live  forever  for  the  same  reason  that  we 
want  to  live  to-morrow.  Why  do  you  want  to  live  to-morrow  ? 
It  is  because  there  is  someone  who  loves  you,  and  whom  you 
want  to  see  to-morrow,  and  be  with,  and  love  back.  There  is 
no  other  reason  why  we  should  live  on  than  that  we  love  and  are 
beloved.  It  is  when  a  man  has  no  one  to  love  him  that  he  com- 
mits suicide.  So  long  as  he  has  friends,  those  who  love  him 
and  whom  he  loves,  he  will  live  ;  because  to  live  is  to  love.  Be  it 
but  the  love  of  a  dog,  it  will  keep  him  in  life ;  but  let  that  go  and 
he  has  no  contact  with  life,  no  reason  to  live.  He  dies  by  his  own 
hand.  Eternal  life  also  is  to  know  God,  and  God  is  love.  This 
is  Christ's  own  definition.  Ponder  it.  "  This  is  life  eternal, 
that  they  might  know  Thee  the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ 
whom  Thou  hast  sent."  Love  must  be  eternal.  It  is  what 
God  is.  On  the  last  analysis,  then,  love  is  life.  Love  never  fail- 
eth,  and  life  never  faileth,  so  long  as  there  is  love.  That  is  the 
philosophy  of  what  Paul  is  showing  us ;  the  reason  why  in  the 
nature  of  things  love  should  be  the  supreme  thing — because  it 
is  going  to  last ;  because  in  the  nature  of  things  it  is  an  eternal 
life.    It  is  a  thing  that  we  are  living  now,  not  that  we  get  when 


448  DRUMMOND 

we  die ;  that  we  shall  have  a  poor  chance  of  getting  when  we  die 
unless  we  are  living  now.  No  worse  fate  can  befall  a  man  in 
this  world  than  to  live  and  grow  old  alone,  unloving,  and  un- 
loved. To  be  lost  is  to  live  in  an  unregenerate  condition,  love- 
less and  unloved ;  and  to  be  saved  is  to  love ;  and  he  that  dwell- 
eth  in  love  dwelleth  already  in  God.     For  God  is  love. 

Now  I  have  all  but  finished.  How  many  of  you  will  join  me 
in  reading  this  chapter  once  a  week  for  the  next  three  months? 
A  man  did  that  once  and  it  changed  his  whole  life.  Will  you  do 
it?  It  is  for  the  greatest  thing  in  the  world.  You  might  begin 
by  reading  it  every  day,  especially  the  verses  which  describe  the 
perfect  character.  "  Love  suffereth  long  and  is  kind ;  love  en- 
vieth  not ;  love  vaunteth  not  itself."  Get  these  ingredients  into 
your  life.  Then  everything  that  you  do  is  eternal.  It  is  worth 
doing.  It  is  worth  giving  time  to.  No  man  can  become  a 
saint  in  his  sleep  ;  and  to  fulfil  the  condition  required  demands  a 
certain  amount  of  prayer  and  meditation  and  time,  just  as  im- 
provement in  any  direction,  bodily  or  mental,  requires  prepara- 
tion and  care.  Address  yourselves  to  that  one  thing;  at  any 
cost  have  this  transcendent  character  exchanged  for  yours. 
You  will  find  as  you  look  back  upon  your  life  that  the  moments 
that  stand  out,  the  moments  when  you  have  really  lived,  are  the 
moments  when  you  have  clone  things  in  a  spirit  of  love.  As 
memory  scans  the  past,  above  and  beyond  all  the  transitory 
pleasures  of  life,  there  leap  forward  those  supreme  hours  when 
you  have  been  enabled  to  do  unnoticed  kindnesses  to  those 
round  about  you,  things  too  trifling  to  speak  about,  but  which 
you  feel  have  entered  into  your  eternal  life.  I  have  seen  almost 
all  the  beautiful  things  God  has  made ;  I  have  enjoyed  almost 
every  pleasure  that  He  has  planned  for  man ;  and  yet  as  I 
look  back  I  see  standing  out  above  all  the  life  that  has  gone, 
four  or  five  short  experiences  when  the  love  of  God  reflected  it- 
self in  some  poor  imitation,  some  small  act  of  love  of  mine,  and 
these  seem  to  be  the  things  which  alone  of  all  one's  life  abide. 
Everything  else  in  all  our  lives  is  transitory.  Every  other  good 
is  visionary.  But  the  acts  of  love  which  no  man  knows  about, 
or  can  ever  know  about — they  never  fail.  In  the  book  of  Mat- 
thew, where  the  judgment  day  is  depicted  for  us  in  the  imagery 
of  One  seated  upon  a  throne  and  dividing  the  sheep  from  the 
goats,  the  test  of  a  man  then  is  not,  "  How  have  I  believed  ?  " 


THE  GREATEST  THING   IN    THE   WORLD 


449 


but  "  How  have  I  loved?  "  The  test  of  religion,  the  final  test 
of  religion,  is  not  religiousness,  but  love.  I  say  the  final  test  of 
religion  at  that  great  day  is  not  religiousness,  but  love ;  not 
what  I  have  done,  not  what  I  have  believed,  not  what  I  have 
achieved,  but  how  I  have  discharged  the  common  charities  of 
life.  Sins  of  commission  in  that  awful  indictment  are  not  even 
referred  to.  By  what  we  have  not  done,  by  sins  of  omission, 
we  are  judged.  It  could  not  be  otherwise.  For  the  with- 
holding of  love  is  the  negation  of  the  spirit  of  Christ,  the  proof 
that  we  never  knew  Him,  that  for  us  He  lived  in  vain.  It  means 
that  He  suggested  nothing  in  all  our  thoughts,  that  He  inspired 
nothing  in  all  our  lives,  that  we  were  not  once  near  enough  to 
Him  to  be  seized  with  the  spell  of  His  compassion  for  the  world. 
It  means  that : 

"  I  lived  for  myself,  I  thought  for  myself, 
For  myself,  and  none  beside — 
Just  as  if  Jesus  had  never  lived, 
As  if  He  had  never  died." 

It  is  the  Son  of  Man  before  whom  the  nations  of  the  world 
shall  be  gathered.  It  is  in  the  presence  of  humanity  that  we  shall 
be  charged.  And  the  spectacle  itself,  the  mere  sight  of  it,  will 
silently  judge  each  one.  Those  will  be  there  whom  we  have  met 
and  helped  ;  or  there,  the  unpitied  multitude  whom  we  neglected 
or  despised.  No  other  witness  need  be  summoned.  No  other 
charge  than  lovelessness  shall  be  preferred.  Be  not  deceived. 
The  words  which  all  of  us  shall  one  day  hear  sound  not  of  the- 
ology, but  of  life,  not  of  churches  and  saints,  but  of  the  hungry 
and  the  poor ;  not  of  creeds  and  doctrines,  but  of  shelter  and 
clothing;  not  of  Bibles  and  prayer-books,  but  of  cups  of  cold 
water  in  the  name  of  Christ.  Thank  God  the  Christianity  of  to- 
day is  coming  nearer  the  world's  need.  Live  to  help  that  on. 
Thank  God  men  know  better,  by  a  hair's-breadth,  what  religion 
is,  what  God  is,  who  Christ  is,  where  Christ  is.  Who  is  Christ? 
He  who  fed  the  hungry,  clothed  the  naked,  visited  the  sick.  And 
where  is  Christ?  Where? — whoso  shall  receive  a  little  child 
in  My  name  receiveth  Me.  And  who  are  Christs  ?  Everyone  that 
loveth  is  born  of  God. 


Vol.  II. — 29 


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